A Captive Light
by Hedgi
Summary: First in the History Repeats series. Realizing that the Digidestind would do anything for a friend, the Emperor puts a new plan into action, to defeat the Digidestined. With a kidnapped Gatomon as his hostage, emotions run high and Kari's crest holds a mystery. Light Takari, no other pairings.
1. Prologue : Plotting

**Well, it's taken a while, but I've finally got another full length story for you guys! To all my old readers, I hope you enjoy this, and to any new guys out there thanks for giving me a shot. I hope to do better on this than my last story! This is not a sequel to Dark Serenity in any way, shape or form. It takes place in 02, sometime after episode 8**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own digimon. How ever did you guess?**

Prologue

The Digimon Emperor sat in his chair, watching the replaying feeds from his many cameras. Each displayed a battle- a battle he had lost against the Digidestined. The boy studied each of the children's actions in turn, searching for a weak spot- any weak spot. They had no strategy, only make it up as you go attacks and retreats.

" _you'd think that would make it simpler_" Ken thought angrily. "_instead, it just makes things more complicated. Not that it matters. Everyone, every team, has a flaw in any plan. I'll find it. They're only pawns, and I'm the chessmaster_."

"Master?" a timid voice broke through the young genius's thoughts. It was Wormmon. Glaring, Ken snapped, "what do you want?"

"Sorry, Ken, I just-" the cowering digimon began, before being interrupted.

"How many times have I told you, you don't have the _right _to say my name?" the Digimon Emperor hissed, getting to his feet and raising his long, black whip. Wormmon flinched, but the sharp pain never came.

" Sorry, Master." He said, softly. "I .. I thought you might want to know that those kids were back… they knocked down another spire." Again, Wormmon flinched. He knew that Ken did not like getting bad news.

"What? And you're only telling me NOW?" the boy's voice was like thunder, harsh and angry. When the digimon nodded, Ken ordered him out with a yell and a kick.

Again, he watched the screen- and then he saw it. The last battle he'd lost. He'd nearly won, nearly gotten rid of the digidestind problem once and for all. Davis his- well, rival wasn't quite the word, as it implied they were almost equal. Davis, his opponent, had been ready to give it hall up for his team. Friendship- that was what held the group together. That was why he hadn't beaten them- yet.

"_All I'd need is one." _Ken though, smiling to himself, "_Only one of the little brats, and the rest would do anything I asked. Still, the question is which? Not Davis- it's too delicious to watch him squirm. Not the older girl- she might try something foolish, and besides, she'd drive anyone nearby crazy with her whining. No, not what' s her name, violet hair. One of the others. The little one, maybe, or the other girl._" A plan was forming, and Ken remembered only a few days ago, when the brunette girl had been left behind. She'd stopped Andromon- he wanted revenge for that. And it seemed the rest of the pitiful team had been frantic. She would make a good choice. Then again, the youngest would be easier to snatch, and already, everyone seemed overly concerned for the kid's safety. Either would do quite nicely.

He typed away, setting up another control spire. Tomorrow, like clockwork, the brats would come back. And he'd be waiting. The Digidestind's greatest strength would be their downfall. In 4 days, the Emperor calculated, the Digital world would be his, and his alone. No one would be able to stop him. He laughed, then logged out, returning home. Tomorrow- he could hardly wait.

**To be continued**

**Ok, so this is just the start- and the next chapter will be longer! let me know what you liked, what you didn't, please, reviews are the best thing you can do for me. I'm trying to stay in character( I'd forgotten how cold ken is!)**

**Just a quick note- this is not going to be a Ken- captures-Kari-but-then-falls-in-love-with-her story. I don't do KeKari.**

**See you all in the next chapter!**

**HNA**


	2. And So It Begins

**Author's note: Hey, sorry I took so long! Really, I am. My excuse? I posted the prologue the weekend before my big finals, so I couldn't write, as I had to save myself from failing Chem and Math, and then as soon as school let out, I went to a Girl's Sleep-away camp, and since I was a youth leader( I helped plan everything)- I did not have any time to write. I honestly did not. I got back yesterday, and I feel so bad about leaving you all for three weeks. From now on, I'll update once every two weeks for long chapters, or once a week for shorter ones. Thanks, Merryb, for getting this "Beta"ed so fast! any errors in this are not her fault, but mine. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I never have owned digimon. I never even owned a digimon card. I do not lay claim to any of the characters in this story- they belong to the people who own digimon and I am not them. Zhannemon, the digimon I have created, is based on Stormwings, an immortal created by Tamora Pierce for her books. I do not claim to own Stormings, their queen, Zhanne Bitterclaws, or the books from whence they came.**

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On to the story!

Chapter One

"Rosetta Stone!" A huge white sphinx digimon called, sending huge slaps of stone crashing into the tall black tower before her. With a crack, the control spire fell to the ground, knocking into a few trees as it landed.

"Nice work, Nefertimon!" Kari Kamiya called from the ground. She wished she could fly on her digimon partner's back, but it was getting late, and the friends had decided it was better to rid the digital world of as many control spires as possible each day, and that meant conserving energy. and although they'd been following the same routine for over two weeks, having rocks shoot out of her digimon's back- the same back she was riding on- was more than a little discomforting.

Nearby, other dark towers fell, accompanied by cries of "Star Shower", "Fire Rocket", "Tempest Wing", and " Gold Rush" as the other digidestind and their partners destroyed the huge spires that were key to the cruel Digimon Emperor's power.

"Perfecto!" came a cry of glee as another Spire fell to the ground.

Only a single tower remained in the lightly forested area, one of many sections controlled by Ken Ichijouji, the boy genius who was also the bane of the digital world. Nefertimon was joined by Pegasusmon, as T.K Takaishi ran through the trees to find Kari.

"Wanna get this one together?" he asked, smiling at his friend. Kari nodded, a bit worried.

"Yeah… I think Nefertimon's getting tired. It's a good thing this is the last one. Still, we should get back - it'll be dark soon, and our parents will probably call the police!" the brunette shook her head. part of her wished she could explain to her mother about the digital world, but she knew that wouldn't be wise. her mother was not the calm and collected sort, doubly so when her children were in even possible danger, and triply so when it involved 'monsters'.

"Golden Noose!" the two flying digimon called out. A strand of light formed to wrap around the tower and pull it to the ground. As it fell, it split into chunks, and one flew up as it was jarred out of place. It struck Nefertimon squarely, and the digimon gave a cry of pain as she de-digivolved into Gatomon and began to fall.

"Gatomon!" Kari cried out, rushing to catch her partner. Pegasusmon released his end of the rope of energy, swooping down to rescue the feline. As he touched down, he too De-Digivolved, the several hours of removing spires having finally taken its toll on his energy. The flying horse glowed golden before returning to his usual shape of Patamon.

"Ooh, it feels like I've been playing soccer with Tai, and I was the ball!" Gatomon complained, getting to her paws. Kari scooped her up.

"Are you ok?"

" I'll be fine, I just need a nap. And some catnip, If you happen to have any." Gatomon looked up at Kari, and purred." Really, I'm fine."

T.K. lifted Patamon to rest, as usual, on his hat. The orange and white digimon peered over the hats brim to look at his fellow digimon, and suppressed a giggle. "Gatomon, sometimes I think all you ever think of is catnip and sleep!"

"Oh, shut up, furball." The sleepy cat replied.

"Hey, hey, calm down" T.K tried to play peacemaker, a role he usually took on when the two had a fight, which was about once a week.

He looked over at Kari. "Come on, we should get the others and go. It isn't safe if we've got two of five digimon exhausted, and the others must be ready to rest as well. Just because the Emperor hasn't showed up yet doesn't mean he won't." the young teens blue eyes took on a worried cast. They hadn't seen Ken since discovering his identity, when he'd tried to actually _kill _Davis. It frightened T.K. how far the other boy had been willing to go- over a soccer game, a soccer game that he'd _won_ anyway.

Gatomon hopped down from Kari's arms. "I'll wait by the T.V, if you don't mind. I think I'll have a catnap."

"Ok, we'll be right back." Kari assured her partner before following T.K to find everyone else. Yolie, along with Halsemon was soaring above them in the air, as Davis, holding tightly to Flamedramon's back came into view. Cody and Digmon followed, covered in dirt, a few leaves from the trees that had been uprooted nearby in the quiet boy's short, dark, hair.

"Woohoo! We did it! Ten spires! Did ya see me get that last one, Kari?" Davis crowed, leaping from his digimon's back and coming to stand beside her.

"Sorry Davis, I didn't." she told him, as the goggle-headed boy sighed.

"Girls never see me do anything cool." He pouted, folding his arms and glaring at the ground.

"What am I, chopped liver?" called Yolie. " I saw it, and Davis, for the record, it wasn't that cool."

"Aw, you suck the fun outta everything!" he snapped at the older girl as she landed in the soft dirt beside them.

"Guys." Cody's soft, slightly hoarse voice cut through Davis's whispered monologue against Yolie. "Guys, the sun is setting, and my Grandfather's going to wonder where I am. We need to go." T.K and Kari nodded.

"We can come back first thing in the morning, since you don't have school." Patamon pointed out. "Pretty soon, we'll get rid of all the spires in the WHOLE digital world!"

"Good." Halsemon nodded his huge head.

Suddenly there was a shriek from the distance. Out of nowhere, three huge digimon appeared. They had human like heads and torsos, but had clawed feet and silver wings rather than arms. No Dark Rings were visible, and red eyes glared angrily at the Digidestind.

"That's Zhannemon!" Flamedramon explained. "Their Feather Storm releases wing feathers that can cut through anything, and they are as cunning as they are nasty. You don't want to get on their bad side!"

"Everybody, Run!" T.K shouted as the bird-women dove from the air to attack. The children and their partners raced for the television that would take them home.

"Feather Storm!" the Zhannemon screeched, hurling a cloud of silver feathers at the fleeing kids. Trees toppled, and Yolie screamed in pain as a feather nicked her arm. Suddenly, one of the monsters swooped down, claws out stretched, aiming for the children.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon called, knocking away some of the feathers that came his way, but failing to stop the digimon's body as she hurtled through the air. Flamedramon jumped in her way, shooting Fire Rocket after Fire Rocket, the flaming missiles forcing her to weave. From another direction came a second of the wind horrors, and this one dodged every one of the drills Digmon fired at her. Claws closed on thick fabric, and she pulled up, taking with her the youngest of the digidestind.

"Ahhhh!" Cody screamed as he was pulled from the relative safety of the ground.

"Cody!" the others called after him, turning to run the way they'd come, following on foot.

"Flamedramon, get her!" Davis ordered. He didn't want any digimon to be hurt, but better an evil one than one of his friends. Kari stopped him,

"No! He might hit Cody! We can't risk it! Cody, hang on!" she looked around franticly

Mere seconds later, Yolie and Halsemon launched into the air, as Flamedramon's attacks swatted the other Zhannemon from around them. "Give him back!" the violet haired girl yelled as her griffin-like digimon gathered speed. The creature holding the struggling Cody looked for her companions, then grinned coldly.

"Very well," she sneered, and released. Cody began to plummet to the ground far below, but before Yolie could even give the call, Halsemon dove, reaching the falling boy long before he reached the ground, and catching him.

Trembling, Cody buried his face in the digimon's thick feathers and fur. "Thank you," he murmured so softly that Yolie could hardly hear.

"Yolie, I'm going to fall." The huge digimon said to his friend, before beginning to glow. The two digidestind shrieked as they hit trees, gathering more cuts and scrapes, as Halsemon De-digivolved into his much smaller form of Hawkmon.

As they hit the forest floor, shaking and in Cody's case, crying, the others arrived, exhausted and panic stricken.

"Are you all ok?" T.K asked, gasping for breath. Cody clung to Armadillomon.

" I'll be O.K." he said, still shaking.

Yolie nodded, glaring at the sky. "I bet the Emperor sent them now because he knew we were about to collapse. That.. that…" she couldn't think of a good word to describe him. "That jerk! She finished, unsatisfactorily. She pulled up her sleeve to see that a long, thin gash had appeared, from the metal feather that had sliced her. It wasn't bleeding much, but it stung." Oh, owww. Why can we ever have any peace around here?" she muttered angrily, storming off towards the T.V.

"Wait… T.K, Davis, everyone… I only saw two of those things fly away." Kari said, suddenly. "Oh, no. Oh, no. No. No!" she began to follow Yolie as a yowl pierced the forest. "GATOMON!" she cried, using the last bit of speed she possessed, reaching a clearing, only to see a shape in the far sky distance. A silver feather lay on the ground, in front of the T.V. She took only three steps in the direction of the final Zhannemon before collapsing, both in pain from her cuts, and in utter despair. Gatomon was gone, and she could not follow.

As the other appeared from the edges of the trees, panting, Kari began to sob.

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**I hope that was long enough to make up for taking such a long time!**

**As always, please review. It means a lot to me, to see what people think of my work. I also really, really like getting reviews, because they make me feel shiny, and make my day. Let me know if I've stayed mostly in character, or if it's just too crazy. There might be a little OOCness coming. please, no flames.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Hedgi Naysomay Aisling**


	3. Broken Promise

A Captive Light

Chapter two

**Author's note: thank you to those of you who took the time to review the last chapter! You all really made my day. And thank you to those that took the time to read it, and to read this. Even those of you who are skipping this to read the story. Thanks!( special thanks to MerryB and Sari Merrit for beta-ing.)**

**Disclaimer: I own digimon. I am also a ****four hundred foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings.**

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Kari's fingers twisted, clutching at the dirt, pounding against the ground. Tears streamed down her face.

"No! Gatomon...I promised." She wept, without looking up or away from the ground. "I promised her, never again…I promised her I'd never let It happen again. I told her…" Her words were choked with tears, but plainly, heartbreakingly audible. "Oh, Gatomon, I'm sorry, I promised…I…It…" Sobs shook her body, overpowering her words as she wailed aloud.

_It. Again. It. Again…_Cody shot Yolie a confused glance, still shaking. The older girl responded with a shrug, shock and horror still evident on her face. She had no idea what _It_ was, or what Kari meant by, _again. _More importantly, she didn't know what to do- she'd never seen Kari like this, not ever.

T.K. did not hesitate. He and Patamon dropped to the ground beside weeping girl, and T.K. put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kari," he whispered faintly, still trying to catch his breath. She did not respond, only continued with her half sob, half laments.

"I...I told her…I failed her, I…Not Again, not Again. It _can't_ happen Again, It _can't_!"

Not about to be shown up, Davis moved forward to stand beside Kari, placing his own hand on her other shoulder lightly. Normally he would have made a joke, but he knew that this was not a time for trying to draw attention to himself. All that mattered was Kari, and her tears.

"Kari?" he said, softly, something he had to work at.

It was as if no one was there, as if no one had made a sound. Kari only screamed, pleaded, wept, until T.K lifted his hand from her shoulder, and placed it over her thrashing fingers.

"Kari, please." He had tears in his eyes as well.

It was only then that Kari looked up at the face of her oldest friend. Davis scowled, but no one saw, or paid him any attention.

"T.K... I _promised," _Kari's voice was small and faint. She did not move to wipe her tears

"I know," he told her. "We'll get her back. That's _my_ promise." He did not smile, only turned his head to glare at the spot where the monsters who had taken Gatomon had vanished from sight.

"Yeah, what T.D. said." Davis piped up, annoyed that he hadn't been the one to say it first.

"His name is T.K." Patamon complained before trying to hover to see if he could spot _anything_ that could help find Gatomon. He flopped back onto his partner's head, worn out.

A few steps back from the three, Cody looked at his feet._ It's my fault. _He thought bitterly_. If I'd been more careful, they'd never have needed to come after me. Then Gatomon would still be here. It's my fault. _Armadillomon looked up at his partner, and shook his head.

"That's not true, Cody. I know what you're thinking, and it's not your fault." He said it quietly, but Kari heard it. She stood, knees still weak and trembling.

"He's right, Cody. It wasn't your fault." She said softly. As the younger boy began to protest, she cut him off, eye's searching the skies desperately. "It wasn't your fault. It was mine." She took a step forward, then another. She stumbled, righted herself, and took another step. Again, she stumbled.

"I have to go after her!" she pleaded as Davis caught her, "I can't abandon her."

Davis was the first to speak this time. "Kari…she's gone. We can't find her tonight." Kari glared at him, and the boy wished he'd let one of the others speak up. He was the leader and he had to face facts, as much as he hated to. "Look," he continued, "It's nearly dark out, and none of us have the strength to fight." He looked around, and saw Cody, Yolie, Veemon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon nodding. Veemon spoke up. "Davish is right." The little blue creature said. "Out here, with all of us too weak to digivolve, we are sitting Duckmon."

Yolie caught on, and came forward "Besides, I bet Izzy can track her, somehow. If we come back with his advice, we'll find her in no time! But without him- Kari, you know how huge this place is, better than the rest of us. Without supplies…"

"I know," the brunette croaked. "It's just that…" T.K. put an arm around her.

"It'll be ok, Kari." He said, before turning back toward the TV.

Kari wanted to scream, to shout, _No, it won't be ok. Gatomon won't be ok. She's alone, and trapped, and It's happening again_, _and_ but instead she only walked slowly, unsteadily, to the blinking screen. Reaching down, she picked up the silvery feather, and tucked it into her pocket.

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By the time the five, plus the four digimon, had reached their homes, the others knew most of the details. Izzy had been in the lab, waiting. The older kids and decided that one of them should be on hand if the new group was late- trouble was common and dangerous in the digital world, as they knew all to well. When Cody had explained what had happened, Izzy had sent an email to Sora, who was staying with Mimi in New York, before calling Tai. While T.K phoned Matt, Yolie tried to comfort Kari.

"We'll go back first thing in the morning," she said, turning to Izzy as the redhead shut his phone. "Izzy, please tell me you have some way of finding Gatomon!"

The teenager shook his head. "Not at the moment. She doesn't have a Digivice, or a tracking device of any kind. I can try to tap into the Digital World's data to find her, but it could take a while."

"And what do you mean by "a while'?" Yolie questioned.

"A few days at minimum, more like a few weeks." He sighed. "I'm sending word to all our allies to start the search, and with luck, one of them saw something." He looked at his phone, and frowned.

Tai came in, nearly breaking down the door.

"Kari!" he cried, reaching his sister. Wordlessly, she got up and hugged her older brother.

"Oh, Kari," he whispered. "I'm sorry. We'll find her, you know that."

She nodded, but didn't say anything. She was tired of always having to be positive, upbeat, and cheerful. Her usual optimism had been fading fast, and Izzy's confession had not helped matters. So she nodded, and let her brother lead her home, fists clenched.

_Ken will pay for this._ She thought darkly. _He has no right to hurt innocent digimon, no right to do what he's done…no right to take Gatomon. He better pray Davis and T.K find him before I do.

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A few blocks away in his own apartment building, T.K. sat at his desk, thinking. Izzy couldn't track Gatomon, but maybe he could track Ken's Digivice. If they could find Ken, then they could find the captive digimon.

The blond looked over at Patamon, sleeping happily in T.K.'s old green hat. The hat was too small to wear, but he'd kept it all the same, and Patamon had claimed it as his bed. Unbidden, memories began to surface, presenting themselves before T.K. _The first time he'd met Patamon, when he was 8. Losing Patamon in the fight against Devimon. When Tokomon had been kidnapped by a group of Pagumon. Abandoning Patamon when Demidevimon had convinced him Patamon wasn't his friend. Leaving his closest friend behind for 3 long years._

Shaking his head, T.K. looked at the slumbering bat-pig. He alone could guess what Kari was going through right now. He promised himself he would do everything in his power to find Gatomon. He wouldn't let anyone else suffer as he had.

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Cody removed his kendo helmet and mask, and bowed to his grandfather. It was late now, but after supper was the only time Cody had for lessons, now that he spent most afternoons in the digital world. His grandfather watched as the nine year old retreated quietly to his room. Usually, he stayed to speak with the old man, or ask for advice, but not tonight. He had too many questions, and none of them could be answered by his teacher. What had Kari meant by 'It" and when had "It' happened before. She must have meant something from the first adventure. As he climbed into bed, the boy made a mental note to ask T.K. about it the next day. He set the alarm for 6 o'clock, and fell into deep and dreamless sleep.

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As she lay in her bed, Kari lay awake, thinking about events long since past. Although she had only been eight, each word, each expression, and each cry was etched into her memory, and the girl guessed it would haunt her forever. She never spoke of it, not to anyone. It hurt too much. And now it was happening all over again. She stared at the top bunk for a long time before she fell asleep, her hand still locked around something she wore around her neck.

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**So there ya go. Thanks for reading everyone, and at the risk of sounding desperate, please review. I put several hours into this, so I ask/plead/cajole you to take a few moments to let me know what you liked.**

**I'm sorry if Davis and Kari seem out of character- or anyone really.**

**Next chapter has Ken! And the plot thickens!**

**Um, yeah. Please review. **** It's good karma.**

**-Hedgi Naysomay Aisling**


	4. Gatomon's Fear

**Author's note: Hello,I'm so, so sorry about the wait. I was pulling a handcart across the mountains dressed like a 1840's pioneer woman, helping my aunt move, and assisting my Grandmother( who just had a hip replacement.) I'd just like to say that this chapter (starring Ken) was rather hard to write as well, possibly the hardest, because I knew I had to get it done, but would have so much rather done the next chapter instead. consequently, this means that chapter 4 will be up in less than a week.**

**Disclaimer- Fanfiction- fiction by fans. As in, not mine.**

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A Captive Light, Chapter three.

"Fools! You idiots!" Ken raged, blue eyes bloodshot and wide with fury. "I told you to bring me the boy! I send you out with one simple task and you-"

"Master," one of the Zhannemon said, still crouched in a bow. "We could not risk leading them all to you at once- isn't that what you-"

"SILENCE!" the boy demanded harshly. "What I want is one good reason not to destroy you all right now."

"Master," another of the winged digimon whispered in a grating plea." We failed you- but we did manage to capture a prize. We are your most loyal servants." She lifted her wing to reveal a still white bundle of fur- the unconscious form of Gatomon, bleeding from a cut where talon had clutched at flesh and fur.

"What?" the Digimon Emperor whirled around. "Why didn't you inform me of this earlier?"

"They did, Ken." Wormmon pointed out, flinching as he spoke, knowing what would likely come next. Ken's fingers tightened around the handle of his long whip, and sharp crack echoed as it lashed the air, but did not strike the small, green digimon.

"Don't" the Emperor hissed between clenched teeth, "call me that."

He looked at the battered Gatomon, and smiled, remembering his first encounter with the Digidestined. It had been the first of many defeats, but there had been one moment of victory. Davis had reacted…_badly…_ to the idea of that pathetic creature of his being in harm's way. And, from what the Emperor had seen in the battles since, the others felt the same way about their own partners. _This changes things. This makes everything far more …challenging, and I like a challenge."_

"Dismissed," he said suddenly. "Leave the Gatomon and get out of my sight. You shall be notified if your services are needed again." with that he turned his back on the departing terror, seating himself again in his chair. The screens before him still flashed with muted video after video, stolen victory after stolen victory. Viciously, the boy slammed a fist onto a button, and the screens around him went dark. He needed to think, to plan.

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In the dark silence of the room, Gatomon stirred and tried to get to her paws without luck._ Where am I?_ she thought, shaking her head and peering around the room. It was cold and empty. Her ears twitched. There was a human here, she could hear soft breathing. Despite her night vision, all she could make out was the back of a chair. _What?_ In a rush she remembered.

_Collapsing in front of the TV, lurching to her paws as she heard Cody's scream, stumbling, silver feathers, claws reaching out for her, grabbing her, and cry of her own pain, darkness_.

She was a prisoner of the Emperor.

Gatomon began to inch backward, hoping beyond hope for an escape. The chair swung around soundlessly, and the figure stood, towering above her. "Somehow, I don't think you're going anywhere, _Kitty_." He laughed, high and cruel. She cursed, using a word Kari had threatened to give her a bath over, a word she'd heard on television when everyone else had been out. She said it again for good measure.

Ken was not impressed.

He glared down at the captive digimon, who glowered back, eyes unwavering

"I'll fight you with one paw tied behind my back, you coward!" her high voice gave away no hint of fear, only steady anger-hatred that burned.

"But I don't need to fight you. You've already lost. You're outnumbered, outmatched, and outclassed. It'd be a bore, really, to watch your pitiful attempts. You can't win, you can't escape." The boy shook his head, eyes glinting behind purple goggles. He turned to face computer screens that began to slowly flicker to life, but the dimness was too much. The goggles were ripped from their place, flung onto the chair.

"You're wrong- I haven't lost yet. I've escaped smarter villains than you more times than I can count. You won't win." Claws extended and exhausted muscles tensed, quivering, as Gatomon prepared to leap.

"Please, spare yourself the effort. I've no time for this. I want information, and you're going to give it to me." He turned to face his prize. "Your partner's last name, where she lives, the other brat's info- I want it all and I want it now."

"I'll die first. I won't betray my friends, not now, not ever."

"I'll count to three." Ken's voice had lost its mocking tone, and sent ice through Gatomon's veins. She shuddered, but slowly got to her hind paws.

" No." she declared.

"You can make this easy on yourself." a slash of black flew through the air, the tip of the whip slamming into the already weak digimon. "Or we can do this the hard way." He finished to the figure collapsed in a heap on the floor. Gatomon said nothing, huge eyes fixed on the weapon.

_Crack! A flash of pain, then a sudden loss of intensity, a pang of loss. Golden light, blinding, Then darkness. A dark ring, fallen, broken. _

_Crack! The sound of a whip, echoing…echoing…laughter, cries of sorrow, of loss, of hurt._

_Crack! Redness, a slash of whip like lightning, beating down, again, again, red as blood, red as pain._

_Crack! Her paw ached, screamed in agony, as crimson filled her vision- red from the lightning, and the blood._

_Crack! Pain filled every inch of her being, flowing from the point of impact to spread outward._

_Crack! Again and again, over and over, the worst pain of all the lingering memory that someone had been supposed to love her. _

_Crack! This wasn't love…what was love? She couldn't remember, if she'd ever known._

_Crack! A face, pale as the moon, pale as death, blue eyes. Blue eyes, blue eyes…blue eyes glinting with cold laughter…blue…blue...blue._

" Kari!" Gatomon wailed.

Ken lowered his arm in surprise. He'd only hit the stupid, worthless creature once, yet it shook and trembled. _What the-?_ Then he shook his head. Kari. He'd known that name from the past- Davis seemed overly fond of shouting it. Nothing new. Nothing useful.

Gatomon continued to scream, over and over, the same words, blurring together in one long agonized scream. "Kari-no-Kari-Again-Kari-It-blue-eyes-Again-Kari-Again-not-Again-not-Again-Kari-It-Him-Blue-Eyes-happening-Again-Save-him-please-not-It-Kari-Promise-Again-NO!"

Finally Ken had had enough. "Shut UP!" he roared, though all it managed was louder screams, more twitching, flinching as if warding off blows. Angrily the Emperor jabbed a button on his screen, and through the wide, tall doors came two dark ring clad Gotsumon.

"Take the Gatomon to a cell- somewhere where I can't hear it. Guard it- if it escapes, I'll have your heads. I'm going home."

Blue cloak flapping, the boy stood and walked out, black Digivice in hand.

It was well past midnight, but a lone light shone through a single window of the apartment.

Ken typed rapidly, muttering to himself as he did. The password was simple enough to crack and…there.

The computer whiz grinned as he looked through page after page of the Obidiba School District records, searching, looking for names.

By one AM, he'd found four- a Carrie, a Karina, and two Karis. He clicked the first link.

**Yagami, Carrie****- Obidiba Elementary, Kindergarten.**

_Not her._ Ken decided. _Too young. _

The second link led to **Liu,** **Karina-Obidiba High, Freshman.**

_Not her either- there's no way she's in high school. _

The next link- Ken felt the day's work catching up with him. He'd go to sleep as soon as he'd found her.

The first of the Karis was an American exchange student, Kari Bekerely. As if that wasn't enough, she was a senior in high school.

That only left the last name- **Kamiya, Kari.**

She was in 5th grade, the same as Davis.

He stared at the name- Kamiya. Ken _knew _that name from somewhere. Not a lecture, not one of his games..

That was it. Tai Kamiya, one of Obidiba's best young soccer players._ Almost as good as me, from what I've heard._ Ken thought, although he'd never actually played the older boy. _I remember now…no wonder he looked familiar- he was in the Digital world, right when those brats started to show up. Looks like I'll finally get to battle him- only it won't be soccer._

He scribbled the listed address onto a pad of paper before turning off the computer. As it shut down and he moved in the moon-lit semi-darkness to his bed, Ken caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Blue eyes danced with triumph, and he allowed himself a smile. Tomorrow, he'd make his move, and soon he'd have all the Digidestined- Digidoomed- right where he wanted them. They'd pay for making him look like a fool. They'd regret ever crossing him.

He fell asleep, dreaming of victory.

* * *

In her tiny cell, Gatomon continued to cry out, frenzied even in the half sleep she fell into. She shivered in her night terrors, pleading, calling out to old friends, gone friends. Faces mingled- the Emperor's and the face that would forever haunt the cat-like creature- a face with blue eyes, dancing with cold cruelty.

The face neared her dream-self, and Gatomon lashed out, and awoke with a start. Nothing had changed, she was still trapped. The Emperor was still after her friend, there was still no hope. The digimon of Light began to weep as she hadn't for three years, in sorrow, in pain, and in utter despair. "No, not Again." The words were not a shout, her voice spent from hours of screams as memories attacked like whips.

"_No_."

It was happening again, and there wasn't anything she could do to stop it.

* * *

**Well, that was certainly very dark! as Merryb put it, Ken is a douche. does it say bad things about me that i had a really fun time writing the confrontation bit? probably.**

** Next chapter will involve the gang searching for our beloved Gatomon. But will they find her? And will anyone ever tell Davis, Cody, Yolie and the readers what 'It' is? Find out next time.**

**Please take a moment to review- if you review now, you'll get previews when I get to the ( very evile) cliffhangers :) **

**~ Hedgi Naysomay Aisling**


	5. False Trail

**Author's note: Remember how I said this'd be up in under a week? Well, as you all know by now, I lied. I have plenty of excuses- several emotional breakdowns, losing my notebook, not one but two traumatizing dentist appointments, being possibly diagnosed with hypo-mania, blood tests that made it hard to type, last second babysitting jobs, school starting, Mockingjay coming out, writer's block…but really, the reason I didn't post until now is that I'm just a big, fat, lazy butt. I'm sorry for the delay, please forgive me.**

**This chapter is dedicated to whomever it was that decided to call me a 'brilliant author' on TV Tropes. **

**Disclaimer: Kari's eyes are red/ while T.K.'s are blue/ I don't own/Please don't sue!**

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* * *

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Chapter Four

Kari woke up screaming. She clung to her pillow, shaking uncontrollably. Already, the dream was fading, but the pure terror she had felt remained behind.

Tai was awake and down the ladder of the bunk bed in seconds.

"Kari?" he whispered into the darkness. "Kari, what is it?"

"Bad dream." She sat up and turned on her lamp. The warm glow of the lamp caught on the pink and yellow of her necklace, swinging on its chain after Kari released it in her hurry for light. Tai's eyes flicked to it and back to his sister's tear reddened eyes.

"Tai, I just feel so helpless."

"I know." and he did. When Kari'd been sick in the digital world, he'd felt horrible, for letting his parents down in his promise to keep Kari safe, for letting _her_ down. "I know. But you've got to understand- we will get her back, and soon. Try and get some rest, we leave early."

Kari left the light on, even as she fell asleep.

* * *

Cody woke to his buzzing alarm clock. He hit the button and rolled out of bed. Although it was Saturday, his Grandfather was probably awake. The nine year old debated asking for advice, but decided against it. What would he ask? What _could_ he ask?

Upamon slumbered undisturbed in the Kendo helmet, snoring and occasionally muttering about food. Cody smiled before prodding him awake with a finger. "Cody…?" the groggy digimon wondered aloud. "I've been having the weirdest dreams. Is it time for breakfast?"

Cody laughed, but then frowned, remembering why he'd gotten up so early.

"Come on, Upamon. We'll eat when we get to the school- I bet Yolie's bringing tons of food."

"Aww, Cody, I can't wait that long!"

In the kitchen Upamon downed a bowl of cheerios while Cody scribbled a note to his mother.

"_Dear Mom,_

_I'm with Yolie and some friends from school. We are working on a very important project together. See you for dinner._

_Cody_"

Satisfied that it was the as true as he could get without explaining the digital world, he left it on the table. He was out the door, Upamon in his backpack, before anyone knew he'd woken.

Halfway down the stairs, he saw the bright gold of T.K's hair, poking out from under his hat.

"T.K! Wait up!" Cody hurried to reach his friend on the sidewalk below. The two walked around the corner to Yolie's family's store, where they found the door open, even at this ungodly hour. The reason became apparent when their friend called over her shoulder, "Thanks sis, I owe ya three!" and flew out the door, half a dozen plastic bags filled with energy drinks and junk food hanging off her arms and fingers.

"Hey Cody, T.K. don't just stand there, help me with these!" the girl called out as she noticed them. They each grabbed two of the bags and began to walk.

* * *

The computer lab was packed. Izzy, Joe and Tai, as well as Kari and Davis stood waiting. Supplies were exchanged- Joe made certain that everyone had one of his 'Digiworld kits' which was nothing more than a small first aid kit, a high energy concentrate mix, an emergency flare, and a space blanket. As Yolie began dividing foodstuffs in case of separations within the group, Tai explained to the newcomers what the plan would be.

"Half of us will head in the general direction the Zhannemon went, with any luck, we'll find one of the Emperor's bases- that'll be Me, Cody, Yolie and Joe. The rest of you- Davis, T.K, Izzy and Kari will be following a signal that-"

Izzy took over "That I found last night. It's faint, but it could very well be Gatomon. The code, so to speak, of the chosen digimon, which is linked to our personal digivices, is not dissimilar from the signals that any Digivice gives off. Since the signal got stronger when I borrowed Kari's Digivice to search for it, it must be one of ours, and it's highly likely that it's Gatomon, although I can't be certain." Dark eyes shone as he explained, although most of what he said went right over the heads of the group..

"Let's go!" Davis crowed. "Let's kick some Emperor butt, show him he can't mess with us without payback!" he punched a fist into his hand, and for once, no one rebuked the boy for his strong, slightly violent, opinion. Packs on backs, five digivices flashed as they opened a gate into the digital world.

Tai looked around the forest, before turning to Joe and Izzy. "I told our digimon to meet us here if they thought their posts would be safe. They should be here any minute." And, sure enough, through a particularly dense patch of foliage came, bickering, Agumon, Tentomon, and Gomamon.

"It would have been far simpler to take the path." Tentomon was telling the others as he came into view.

"But this way was more fun!" pouted Gomamon.

Joe laughed. "That's my buddy." He scooped up the seal-like digimon.

Tai embraced his own partner as Agumon left the underbrush. The orange digimon looked around.

"Gabumon, Biyomon and Palmon are patrolling our areas." He announced, gesturing to himself and the other two older digimon. "And Andromon, Elecmon, and the Gotsumon you rescued have been searching all night!"

"Thanks for getting everyone organized, Agumon. I knew I could count on ya." Tai turned to Kari. "Which direction did they go?" he asked softly.

"That way." She answered without hesitating. Her quivering finger pointed west. Cody confirmed the direction, and re-adjusted his pack. He wanted to start looking as quickly as possible. He owed it to Kari, and to Gatomon.

I was Davis who broke the suddenly awkward silence. "Well, what are we standing around for? Izzy, which direction is that signal thingy coming from?"

Izzy checked the laptop screen, and plugged his Digivice into a slot. "North, Davis. Hang on a second, I just need to…there." He pulled his Digivice free and put the laptop into his pack. Glancing at the small blue device to make certain that his trick had worked, the redhead's eyes flicked to Tai, as if waiting for something.

Tai nodded solemnly.

"Alright, let's get going. If anyone spots anything, contact the other group immediately. Be careful, and try to take out a few control spires if you can." He looked squarely at T.K and Davis." I'm trusting you to take care of my sister."

"We won't let you down." T.K promised for both of them. Kari scowled slightly.

"Tai, I'm not the helpless kid I was…Before."

"I know, but if those things went after one of us first, then we are all in danger. Don't do anything reckless, ok? Leave that to Davis." Tai smiled as Davis glared. Everyone laughed- even Kari giggled at the expression.

"Let's move out!" Tai declared once the tittering had stopped. As the groups separated, the former leader of the Digidestined turned to Joe with a triumphant grin on his face.

"I always wanted to say that!"

* * *

"I wanted to say that!" Davis complained, loudly, as soon as he was out of earshot of the other group. Veemon giggled. "Ya shnooze, ya lose Davish!"

"Hey! It's not funny!" Davis hunched his shoulders and kept walking, muttering something about 'never getting to say anything cool'.

Izzy rolled his eyes. _Yep, he's like a mini Tai alright. _Just _what the worlds need._

They continued on, Kari in the lead, turning impatiently every few yards to check with Izzy they were on the right trail. He'd transferred the location of the signal- which hadn't moved- onto his Digivice. Although she never said it, the boys could guess that she was also reassuring herself they were still there.

Davis tried to start up a conversation, a game of I Spy, and a rendition of '99 trees we pass on the trail', before lapsing into silence. Everyone's ears strained to hear, eyes strained to see anything- a snatch of conversation, a flash of white. Izzy's map showed they were 'close' but they'd been 'close' for quite some time. The trail seemed to last forever, and the trees around it grew thicker and thicker.

A control spire suddenly loomed on the horizon, and Patamon returned from his scouting mission- flying high above to see anything that might be useful.

"Guys, guys, there's a clearing up ahead, and there's a spire and- oh, you can see it from here too. Well, uh, yeah. T.K?" he looked at his partner expectantly.

"Right, DigiArmor energize!" the blond called, holding his Digivice aloft.

Moments later, Pegasusmon stood on the narrow trail. T.k leaped on. "I'll be right back- there might be hostile digimon around. And Ken seems to show up whenever we knock down a few of these things, maybe we'll get lucky."

As the golden digimon took off, the others sat down to take a food break. Within seconds, green light flashed, and the dark tower crumbled into dust.

* * *

After they'd been walking nearly and hour and a half, Cody got up the nerve to ask, "Tai, Kari was talking about something yesterday after…she kept saying she'd made a promise; and that 'It' was happening again. If you don't mind my asking, what did she mean?"

Yolie nodded vigorously, eagerly waiting for the reply. She'd wondered too, but hadn't wanted to be the one to bring it up.

Tai swallowed, and began, eyes still fixed on the horizon.

"you've met the original 8 digidestind. Me, Matt, Sora, Mimi, Joe, Izzy, T.K , and Kari. But when we first came here, there were only seven of us. Kari wasn't with us- she'd missed camp and…it's a long story.

After we'd already fought off two pretty major bad guys, a whole host of their goons, and almost died more times than I can count-"

"It was 42 times all together." Joe put in helpfully. Gomamon shushed him.

"We were facing a new evil, like nothing we'd ever seen. It was just after we'd gotten our crests…we fought with him once and nearly lost. He was impossible- he knew all our weaknesses- Myotismon, a vampire-freak. It was terrifying. His hench-mon were all much stronger than we were, at least for the moment. He escaped to earth- looking for the 8th child. We had never even heard of another digidestind. We didn't know it was Kari, or who the 8th chosen digimon was."

Tai paused suddenly, wondering how to word what he had to explain next.

"Gatomon came to earth as well- as the post powerful of Myotismon's lackeys. She'd been captured while trying to find her partner, and brainwashed. Everything changed when she found Kari- it was like she was a different Mon. but the same night we discovered who she was, who Kari was, Myotismon attacked. He took Gatomon.

Once Myotismon was defeated, Kari promised her that nothing like that would ever happen again, that she'd protect Gatomon from anyone who wanted to hurt her, that she'd never be alone or captured again. I think it helped, but Gatomon still had nightmares- every night, she'd wake up screaming it took her weeks to be able to look matt or T.K in the face- their eye color was so similar to Vampy's- it freaked her out. She was doing a lot better by the time we left, but…"

The older boy trailed off. He'd almost finished the story, told them the other thing that had happened, the thing Kari blamed herself for, but the horror in Cody's eyes had stopped him._ The poor kid, he blames himself for this. And now I've gone and made it worse!_

"Tai," Cody whispered. Tai looked back at the younger boy.

"Thank you for telling me."

They continued on for some time in mostly quiet, broken by the destruction of the odd control spire, or a report from Hawkmon, who flew in wide circles above the trees.

Once, they ran into a small group of Yokomon, who confirmed in their small and scared voices "Yes, we saw them fly overhead yesterday they kept flying- we see them so often, flying over us. Sometimes they stop to attack! That's why we are moving the village- someplace safe from the Zhannemon and the Dark Circles!"

Joe thanked them for the information, but his confusion was growing.

"Uh, Yolie," he asked quickly. "You said you didn't see any dark rings around the Zhannemon, right?"

The girl shrugged. "I didn't see any, but I was trying to escape, so I must have missed them. They were after Cody, so they must have had one somewhere!"

Joe began to rub his glasses thoughtfully. "I don't know." he said, thinking. Something about those Yokomon had seemed very familiar…

"Tai!" he said suddenly, remembering. "Gomamon, remember when Biyomon first digivolved? Into Birdramon, I mean."

"Yeah, on file Island, protecting all those…" Tai started

"Yokomon!" Gomamon chimed in.

Armadillomon looked very confused. "File Island? I thought that place was just a myth!"

"Yes," Hawkmon added, "you aren't telling us it's real? Are you?"

"Yeah, of course it's real. We almost died there, like, 10 times." Tai replied.

"It was 15." Joe piped up, although no one listened

"Dark Circles," Agumon mused aloud, wondering. Not Dark rings. Dark Circles, dark…"

Tai came to the same conclusion. He grabbed Yolie's D-terminal from her gloved hand and began typing a message to Izzy.

"Hey!" the she cried out angrily, "That's mine!" when everyone gave her a death glare, she pouted. "Well, he could have asked!"

Tai handed it back after a moment. "Sorry, but I had to ask Iz a question. If what I think is going on is going on, then we are in serious trouble."

"What?" Cody and Yolie asked together.

"Cody, tell me, when they grabbed you did you see anything odd, sticking out of them? Like a big, black wheel?"

"I..I don't remember."

Tai said a very bad word.

"Then it's up to us- the digimon won't be able to help."

"Why?" the digimon chorused.

"Because the Black Gears are back," was the grim reply.

* * *

Over half a dozen control spires later, Kari's group was exhausted and still 'close'. As they rested and munched on chocolate bars and granola, Tentomon asked Izzy, for the dozenth time if they 'were there yet'.

Izzy took the chance to open his laptop. He read the email from Tai, and began typing madly. A huge map appeared on the screen, of the whole digital world. In once section, of forest, blinked the several lights that showed the location of the four of them, plus the signal they followed. Farther west was another section, where the rest of the Digidestined's lights glowed. He zoomed in on the area, and found a picture of a mountain. A very, very familiar mountain. Coming for a closer look, T.K squinted. " is that…?"

"Part of File Island?"

T.K. nodded mutely.

"Yes, I believe it is. Tai seems to think so as well- and that those Zhannemon have Black Gears in them."

"I thought we destroyed those!" Patamon chimed, coming to rest on T.K's hat.

Davis looked from Veemon to Kari. "What are they talking about?" he asked.

Both shrugged.

Suddenly, Izzy stood up. Guys, the bigger map shows that the signal is just a little bit away. The map on my Digivice was too small to get an accurate scale, but my laptop is indicating that we are closer than close- almost right on top of it!"

He had hardly finished before Kari was moving forward. Yet another Control Spire stood before them, but she didn't hesitate or stop to let anyone take it down.

_I'm coming, Gatomon! I'm coming!_

"Wait!" Davis called. "I'm supposed to be the reckless one!"

The trees were thinning out, Kari had her Digivice in one hand, and the very sharp silver feather she'd grabbed the afternoon before in the other, as the trees opened into a clearing, she paused, then sprang, ready to take down digimon guards, or attack Ken, or…or..

There was nothing, only the dark tower that rose to the sky.

She whirled on Izzy. "Where next, which path? Where's the signal?"

She turned around the clearing, looking, looking for anything, any sign of her friend.

Izzy shook his head, frowning at the screen of his laptop.

"Kari, I'm sorry. The signal's coming from here. We're right on top of it. It...It must have been sent out by the Spire. I..." Kari turned away, to face the spire.

She did not fall to her knees and cry. She did not weep or tear at the grass. Instead, almost calmly, she walked to the spire. The others held their breaths, afraid to set her off.

She slammed a fist into the tower. If it hurt, she showed no hint of it, just kept kicking and slapping and hitting, stabbing at it with the metal feather. Hairline cracks appeared wherever the feather struck, but the tower stayed standing. Kari started to lose it, taking out all her sorrow and rage and frustration on the tower that had tricked her, given her hope. It stood, although weakened a yell, Kari threw her Digivice at the black obelisk. The pink and white device bounced odd, and flashed pink light like a beacon into the sky.

It was enough. The tower fell, as the three boys watched, eyes wide.

"Whoa," was all Veemon could say. Kari picked up her Digivice, cradled it. It was unharmed, not even a crack in the screen.

"Kari, I'm sorry it wasn't her." T.K spoke softly. Kari nodded, wiping at her eyes, which had started to fill with tears

"I hate him," was the reply after a moment. "I hate him."

Davis glared at the empty space where the tower had been. "Hey, Ken. If you're listening, you're a creep, and a jerk, and you'd better hide, cause when we find you," his fist clenched tightly. He hated no one in the world as much as the so called Digimon Emperor, who had done this to Kari, to everyone, "you'll be sorry!" he said more, repeating himself louder and angrier each time, until he was out of words to shout and throw.

"What do we do now?" asked Patamon sadly.

Izzy shook his head. "I don't know. Find Tai and the others, I suppose. The Zhannemon are our only real lead now."

With the spire gone, Tentomon digivolved to Kabuterimon, and scooped up Izzy Davis, and Veemon, while Patamon became Pegasusmon. With Kari and T.K. safely on board they flew. It was tiring, and a bit of a risk, but there was little chance of catching up to their friends if they walked.

No one had noticed the tiny golden ring, hidden in the roots of one of the trees that rimmed the clearing, a ring that glittered faintly with pale pink light for a split second. Instead, it lay forgotten in the woods.

* * *

"Tai, Joe, what do we do?" Yolie screamed as several of the Zhannemon dove at the rocks where they'd hidden.

"It was three years ago! I don't remember how we destroy those things!" Tai exclaimed. "I've had far too many epic battles against the forces of evil to remember what to do with each one!

They'd walked for only a few minutes longer when they'd come to a tall mountain peak that Joe remembered quite well- and not fondly!

Cody had suggested that Hawkmon fly up to see if there were any caves or buildings nearby, when out of nowhere came half a dozen of the flying, half human digimon. They'd sent out a few blasts of feathers, and tried to snatch the kids up, but they'd managed to fin shelter behind some rather large boulders.

Armadillomon rolled out of a ball." Any ideas? Anyone?" he asked.

Joe tried to remember fighting Black Gear digimon. They were nasty, not controlled by anyone…he remembered jumping of a cliff with a shudder. _Definitely not doing that again!_

"We've gotta destroy the gears!" Agumon muttered. "But if the gears are all the way inside a digimon, how do we do it?"

"We did it once…" Tai spoke aloud, trying to remember. It seemed so long ago…T.K had been there. But would he remember? The kid had only been eight, for heaven's sake. Still, it was worth a shot.

"Pass me your D-terminal!" He hissed to Cody. But before he could, a bright light shot up in the distance.

"That must be Kari!" Joe hissed. "And keep it down, maybe they'll go away."

"right, and pigs can fly." Yolie hissed back, forgetting that Patamon was proof of exactly that.

But the burst of light had reminded the once-gogglehead. "Everyone, get out your Digivices out, and concentrate. We need to make them glow.

"What?" Yolie asked, pulling the red device from her pocket "How?"

"Focus on it!" Tai whispered back, peering out from behind the boulders.

His eyes grew wide. "Holy- everybody run!"

Dozens of jagged metal feather's hit the rocks, shattering them into tiny bits of gravel, but thankfully not decapitating or otherwise injuring the four Digidestined.

_Breathe. It's the start of a kendo match. Just breathe._ Cody held up his Digivice, willing it to glow.

_Focus? How am I supposed to focus when I'm about to get killed? Come on, glow!_ Yolie closed her eyes and ducked, clutching her Digivice tightly.

_Ok, I can do this. I think…I hope. _ Joe couldn't look away from the dark cloud of digimon that were gaining speed.

_For Gatomon! Die you stupid Black Gears!_ Tai tensed, fingers crossed. It had to work!

Light poured from the four Digivices, red, orange, silver and blue, combining into white, brighter than Tai remembered. It was blinding.

Something black materialized from the digimon now shrouded in light, and then dissolved into nothing.

The light faded, and several rather confused digimon landed gracefully on the remaining rocks.

"What the..?" the grating voice of once of them mumbled.

The leader, the same who had flown off with Cody, glanced down at the Digidestined, who'd collapsed with relief.

"I take it you are the ones who got the Gears out of us?" she croaked. "You must be ...the Digidestined?"

"That's right!" Yolie declared as she brushed dirt and rock dust from her clothes. "And you have some explaining to do! Why did you attack us yesterday? Where's Gatomon?"

"Look, um, Digidestined girl. We didn't mean- we were…possessed, I guess you'd call it, by those black gears. I'm very sorry for anything my flock and I might have done, but know that we had no control over it. The Black Gears can turn any digimon."

"She's right, Yolie. One of the bravest, kindest Digimon I ever met once tried to kill me under the spell of those things. They didn't mean it."

Yolie nodded wearily, but still glowered distrustfully at the winged creatures.

"Well, do you know where Gatomon is? You took her yesterday."

"Gatomon? She's the 8th Digimon, isn't she?" the head Zhannemon glanced back at one of her flock, who nodded.

"Oh dear. I don't know. I don't remember anything after touching the Black Gears. I was trying to destroy them, but I must have re-activated them." The sorrow on her face was real, and everyone knew it.

"So...back to square one then?" Tai asked, kicking at the dirt.

"My sisters and I will do all we can to help you, young Digidestined. Our actions must have been inexcusable, but I hope you will excuse them, in light of the circumstances."

"Uh, yeah," Joe's eyes brightened. "You know about the Digimon Emperor, right?"

"Yes. We escaped his dark rings and fled here."

Cody saw what Joe was getting at.

"Well, if you could find him, or his base, or something, that would be a big help" he said, softly.

"We will find him, you have our word, and our loyalty." The head Zhannemon promised, bowing slightly.

"Perfecto!" Yolie beamed.

"Guys, look out!" the voice came from above- T.K and Kari on Pegasusmon.

The Zhannemon are…ok, what the heck did I miss?" Davis jumped down from Kabuterimon as the large insect de-digivolved.

"The Zhannemon are good guys." Gomamon explained, as Hawkmon informed the new arrivals, "They promised to help us find Gatomon."

Kari didn't seem to listen to either of them; she marched right up to the rocks and began to yell at them. "Where's my friend? What did you do to her? Where's your _Master_?"

"Little Digidestined…we don't know. I..."

Tai pulled her away.

"Kari, I know you want to, but don't yell at them. They were under the spell of Black gears- like dark ring prototypes. They don't remember any of it, and they couldn't help it anymore that Gatomon could help fighting us before we found you."

That got a reaction from Kari. "Oh."

"But we got the gears out of them." Yolie announced triumphantly, "So they're going to help us!"

"Young ones, we will do all we can." A second of the Zhannemon repeated her leader's promise before they took off into the air, soaring higher and farther away, until they were gone.

* * *

The sun was fading already, although it wasn't yet evening. With no real leads, the Digidestined looked around, splitting up into groups of two and speaking to every friend and ally they could find. None of them had any news, information or idea where to search, but they all promised to keep their eyes open for Gatomon, or the Emperor.

The sun was half gone when they reunited- no one wanted to be caught unawares like the previous day, no one but Kari. She wished desperately Ken would appear, so she could… could grab him and make him tell her where Gatomon was, so she could hit him, just once, right between the eyes…make him regret hurting her friends. She blinked. _I hate feeling like this. I hate feeling angry, I hate...hating. That's for Tai, or Davis, or anyone else. I just want my friends back, and the Digiworld to be safe!_

When the sun set completely, they knew they'd be missed soon. Matt had stayed home in order to forward any emails from Digimon searchers to Izzy, and to take phone calls from confused parents, but sooner or later, someone would drop by to pick up his or her child, and when they weren't there…

No one wanted to mention going back, as Kari was still intently hunting, searching the trees for any glimmer of white fur or the cape of the Digimon Emperor. But it was no use. They were no where to be found, and hunting in the dark would be no use either-they'd be just as likely to find the edge of a cliff than anything else!

At long last, Kari turned to Tai.

"We have to go home now, don't we?" Her voice was drained, she'd been calling for Gatomon and the Emperor for ages. Her russet eyes were sad, but resigned.

"Yeah, sis. We'll come back tomorrow."

"I know." and defeated, the Digidestined returned to the nearest TV screen, and home. Never had Home seemed a bleaker place to return to.

* * *

**Sooo, that was the longest chapter I've ever written, at a bit less than 10 pages, and over 2.5 times the usual word count! I hope you liked it, as I spent my last days of Summer Vacation into it! I realized this morning that the Zhannemon couldn't be killed, like I'd planned, because Cody and Yolie are wimps about that, but I'd already made it clear that they were not wearing dark rings. So...I brought back the black gears from the first season's first 13 episodes! If you don't remember, they basically make a digimon evil. They can still think, speak, and make decisions of their own, but they now like being evil.**

**I'll try to get the next chapter up before too long, ok?**

**Please tell me what you think, what you liked, what you thought was strange, words of encouragement to lift my self esteem, convince my dad that spending as much time as I did on this is worth it….in short, review.**

**See you later!**

**HNA**


	6. Promises and It

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well- I sure am. I'd like to thank the 12 people who've put this on their alerts, and the 9 who've put this on their faves! It means so much to me, and I hope you are enjoying this story as much as you thought you would when you clicked the little box! I hope you'll take a minute to let me know, I'd love to hear from you all! Thank you again, so, so much.**

**Disclaimer: digimon= not mine. This story= mine. This story=fanfiction. Fanfiction= not Digimon, but the next best thing.**

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* * *

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The group of discouraged and tired Digidestind walked slowly along the bike path that was a shortcut to the large apartment building where Tai, Kari, and Izzy lived. The sun lingered on the horizon, casting long shadows on the ground- taller, thinner versions of the children and teenagers. As they moved to the side for the fourth time, letting another jogger pass, keeping the digimon hidden behind them, Kari stooped short. The jogger, a tall, upset looking woman, frowned as she ran around the girl, and continued around the bend in the road.

"I was wrong to leave." Kari said softly, in her questioning, quiet way. "I should have stayed and kept looking…but I left Gatomon. I left her." Her shoulders slumped, and the crimson fire in her eyes seemed to sputter, fading. She was tired of feeling so alone and helpless- she just wanted things to go back to normal- battling one of Ken's minions at a time, destroying Control spires, saving the digital world without the heart ache she'd known in her first adventure. Without the pain she had to face now.

Tai sighed. He knew Kari hadn't wanted to go. _I should have stayed behind with her to look. If it were Agumon, I'd never leave, and Kari'd never make me. Why didn't I …_

T.K came up to stand in front of her. "Kari, you've done everything you can for today. You didn't leave her, we'll go back, first thing." he soothed, as the others nodded.

"We won't give up till we've found her." Tai reassured his little sister, "you know that, right?"

But Kari turned away from her friends, looking back towards the ends of their shadows, to the school. She started walking, hesitantly. "I've got to go back, now." She mumbled, her eyes fixed on a point in the distance, talking to herself more than her friends. "She's in pain, I can feel it. I…" she stopped, unable to go on, unsure of how to voice her thoughts, even to herself. Shaking her head, she continued, back the way she'd come.

Before anyone could offer words of comfort, or explain why it would be pointless o go back now, Davis started to speak. It was always T.K. who comforted Kari, made her Promises- now, he decided, it was his turn.

"Kari, listen." He stopped her, turning her to face him. He spoke quickly, earnestly. "We'll find Gatomon, and we'll find Ken. He won't stand a chance against us, and we'll get her back. We've got tons of digimon looking right now, and they'll contact us the second they've got anything, and we'll go back, right then- I'll go back with you, even if it's the middle of the night.

"I Promise," he said with conviction "I Promise you, I'll find her for you, even if it kills me." Satisfied with this oath, Davis stared at his friend and crush, waiting for her response.

The elder Digidestind stared in stunned silence, Cody and Yolie in open-mouthed shock, as Kari began to shake, fighting to hold back tears and failing.

"No." she chocked out, breathing hard, clutching Davis's arm, "take it back." Her voice rose, higher and higher, "TAKE IT BACK!" she shouted. "Don't you dare, don't you DARE promise me that. Please, never…I can't go through...lose." her words were indistinct, blurring together in gasps as the brunette struggled to calm her breathing. "Take it back, NOW!"

But even as Davis nodded quickly, confusedly, in panic, Kari was gone, running down the street- towards home at least

Tai was after her in a second, racing down the darkening path.

Davis only stared after the siblings, dismayed at what had happened. "I only wanted to make her feel better…" he whispered, dejectedly. "Why do I always mess everything up?" he began repeatedly smacking his forehead.

Yolie was looking at the older Digidestined, who were sharing knowing glances.

"What is it?" she asked, over Davis's proclamations of stupidity. "I know Kari's…well, emotional, especially now, and no wonder, but what did Davis say that freaked her out, I mean it sounds like you guys made promises like that all the time, back then." She frowned, both out of confusion and a bit of jealously that _she _hadn't been part of such a close knit team.

T.K looked uneasy, as Patamon sprang from the bushes to land on his head.

"It's…not a good memory," he said, softly. It had always reminded him of what had happened when the original seven had faced Devimon.

Joe sighed. "Why don't you and Patamon go after Kari and Tai? You know, in case…" he trailed off, but T.K. understood._ In case something happens. Something bad._ With Agumon searching in the Digiworld, the two were completely unprotected, and if Ken or anyone else tried anything…

T,K. took off, and for once, Davis didn't care. He wanted to know what he'd done that had so hurt Kari, so he could make it up to her somehow, so he could never do it again.

Joe looked to Izzy for help, but the red head had retreated into his orangey- yellow lap top's world, doing something, presumable something useful, that Joe couldn't have understood if he'd tried.

With the three newly chosen Digidestined staring at him, the blue-haired boy removed his glasses, polished them on his less than clean shirt, and started. It wasn't a tory he liked remembering- it had been one of his least favorite Digimon related experiences (and there were lots of those.)

"Tai told you two about Gatomon's past, right?" he asked, starting to walk again. Yolie and Cody nodded, and Yolie piped up that she'd been the one to relay the info to Davis.

"Well, after we discovered who she was- or rather, Tai discovered who she was, as nobody bothered to call me, because why tell the responsible one when-"

"Joe?" Izzy's voice came from the bench were they'd left him, "you're ranting again."

"Oh, sorry. Right, as I was saying- after Tai found out, Myotismon attacked. He threw one of our allies- a digimon named Wizardmon- into the bay, and took Gatomon.

Then he pretty much took the whole city hostage. Thousands of Bakamon attacked, kidnapping everyone.

"I remember that! Davis exclaimed suddenly. "My parent's thought I'd made it all up!"

Joe smiled wryly. "Yeah, that happened. Almost no one who wasn't Digidestined remembered. Not everyone got caught though. T.K and I were on the other side of the bay, Tai and Kari had Greymon to protect them, Izzy…did something with a computer, and Matt was with his dad out of the house.

Tai left Kari in a warehouse, with Matt to protect her, while he went to rescue his parents. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but I know that Sora got free somehow and went to meet them. A digimon, I can't remember who, followed her, and attacked. Even with two high powered digimon, it wasn't enough…and one of them was about to kill Matt." Joe tried to look past the terror in Davis's eyes to keep speaking.

"Kari couldn't take it anymore. She thought she'd lost her parents and Tai, and now Matt, and she knew that it was because everyone was looking for her. She gave herself up.

We all got to Myotismon's main base, but it was a mess. He knew who Kari was, and he was too strong. Our attacks meant nothing."

"Oh no…" Yolie whispered, understanding suddenly. Cody's dark green eyes grew wide with fear and horror. Someone had…died.

"T.K. and I had rescued Wizardmon from the bay- he was Gatomon's best friend, and he was the one who'd helped her remember. He'd saved us all, really, by doing that, and he was with us. When Myotismon fired, the rest of us were too far away- there wasn't anything we could do." Joe paused, unsure of how to word what had happened.

"Wizardmon took the blast- all of it. He died; because he'd promised Gatomon he'd never let anything happen to her. He died, and Kari blamed herself."

Yolie clasped her hands over her mouth, and Cody blanched. Davis resumed beating himself up.

Izzy stood up from the bench, laptop tucked under one arm. He hurried over to his friends, who had gotten farther and farther way as the story progressed.

By now, the sun was only a thin lib of gold at the edge of the sky, blocked out by buildings so that only a halo of light slipped through the gaps between them.

"We should be heading back." He said, glancing at the sky. "It's nearly dark, and our parents will be wondering."

He had said "our" but he'd meant "their". Izzy's parents knew all about the Digital world, and Izzy's role as Digidestined. They'd been horrified to hear that the "sweet angel cat" as they'd dubbed Gatomon, was in danger, and had asked that Izzy try to check in with them, if at all possible, and, of course, to try to be safe. They'd moved to Odiba to try to avoid the whole " save-the –world' issue, like most of the other Digidestined's families, but Izzy had informed them of the new threat, and they had agreed that there wasn't anything to be done except to let him do whatever he felt was necessary.

Perhaps it was because of the secrets that the family members had kept before, but Izzy felt that he was possibly the only one of the older Digidestined who could actually talk to his parents about the situation. After the events of three years ago, Mimi's parents had moved across the globe, and Tai's had all but declared 'monsters' a swear word. Sora had it a little better- her mother had met Biyomon, and Joe's folks hadn't had a clue about what had happened. ( They'd only moved, it turns out, because of the superior schools.)

Still, the red-head didn't want his parents to be worried about him- not that they shouldn't have been. Ken was getting more dangerous by the day. Someone was bound to get hurt before this was all over. The teen suppressed a shudder at the thought. He didn't think he could bear to lose another friend.

They walked in silence for a while, not willing to break the quiet. At last there came the split in the path. Joe, Cody and Yolie went one way, Izzy the seconded, and Davis a third. Each was exhausted, and saddened, and wondered what was to be done next.

* * *

Davis scuffed his feet and kicked at leaves as he headed to his apartment. He'd hated knowing about Wizardmon- it made him feel ashamed of what he'd said.

"How was I supposed to know?" he asked aloud, but no one answered. No one paid any attention to the boy. He resolved to call Kari when he got home, and apologize. He'd make it up to her, somehow. Demi-Veemon was asleep, worn out from the events and tucked securely in Davis's shoulder bag. As he walked, the young leader found himself wondering- what would he do if it had been his digimon? It nearly had been, once.

_What does Ken even want?_ He thought. _When he went after Veemon, it was because…well, he wanted another slave, and he wanted to get back at me for existing, and…and...that's it. So why didn't he just send a dozen black rings at us? Why just grab Gatomon?_

Try as he might, the day had been too long, and his mind, already un-used to the cruel ways and twists of mind Ken had plotted with and used for months, could not figure out the meaning. He did not even realize he was home until the door fell open under his hand, and he fell, face first, onto the living room couch.

* * *

Kari had fled to her Haven, the one place she turned to again and again- the park.

She'd gone there her first day after moving, in her attempt to go 'home'. It was a small park, with a set of climbing bars, a slide, a bench, a tree, a swing. Nothing fancy, nothing grand. She liked it for its simplicity. It was a quiet park, a 'better' one being only a few blocks away. She sat on the old, wooden bench, cupping her face in her hands. It was too much. The glass wall that held back the memories and emotions had cracked before, but now, now it was gone, with no trace it had ever been. The images, the pain, filled her again and again- the tatters of Wizardmon's cloak billowing out to protect her, the anguish on Gatomon's face, the light, so red, so bright that it hurt- they replayed, each critical moment in her time as a Digidestined when she'd failed a friend.

A hand touched her shoulder, and she looked up to see Tai, and behind him, T.K.

"Hi," was all she could say.

"Kari, he didn't.," T.K began, but Kai nodded swiftly.

"I know. I know," her voice was softer than usual, softer even than it had been these last few hours." I just…I couldn't take it. I'm sorry for running off, and for getting mad."

"Sis, you don't need to apologize," Tai pointed out. "I know I'd have done the same thing- I almost did."

The slight girl brightened a little.

"Mom and Dad are probably worried." She offered at last, and T.K. nodded, checking his watch.

"I'll see you tomorrow, O.K, Kari? I'll be at the school at 7, unless you think that's too late."

"No, it's fine," she answered, giving a rueful smile. " any earlier and we'll all be asleep on our feet, and." She bit her lip, "That won't help Gatomon."

Solemnly, T.K agreed to let the others in his building know of the timing.

As he felt, T.K wished he'd had something comforting to say. Davis had had the right Idea, although a little extreme. The blond boy _wanted_ , desperately wanted, to make Kari feel better, to see her smile- not a hollow smile, but a real smile, like she'd smiled when the Digital World had been safe, when all had be right. He wanted to hear her laugh, bubbly and happy. He wanted to see her full of light, and happiness. She was so beautiful when she smiled and laughed and lit up with joy

He stopped short._ She's beautiful…and I'd do anything to make her happy again._ He realized. _I care about her._

It was not a new discovery, but a deepened one. Somehow, between the shared jokes and shared dangers, Kari had become more than just his best friend. He'd always cared about her, just as he cared about all of the Digidestined. But this was… different, and he wasn't quite sure how to explain it. Mimi and Sora and Yolie…and Kari- they'd know what it was, girls always seemed to understand what emotions meant. But he had a feeling what it was, and the word resonated with in him. He smiled softly as he picked up the pace home, Patamon asleep in his arms, the last glimmer of sunlight fading from view.

* * *

Tai unlocked the door, and stepped inside, Kari right behind him. No lights were on, no music played, the house was empty.

A note lay on the kitchen counter, and Tai read it with some relief.

_Kids-_

_I went to pick up Dad from work, might be a while. Will call soon. Eggplant casserole in the oven, eat whenever you like. It's a new recipe, so please give it a try, Tai, don't just give it to Miko._

_Love,_

_Mom._

_P.S, Kari, don't forget to take out the trash._

The phone rang, and Tai picked up.

"Oh, hey, Matt." He said, surprised.

He listened for a minute, nodding as Matt spoke. He frowned for a second, and Kari moved across the kitchen, trying to listen in.

"What is it?" she hissed. Tai waved her away, making hand signals that very clearly meant, "SSHHH."

"I'll be right over, see you in five. Okay, Bye."

He hung up.

Kari Glared at him. "What is it?" she asked. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Tai sighed. "Matt wants details about the search, and he's trying to get the older Digidestined together- the Dark Gears are back, and that could mean even more danger. I'm going over to his place now." he hesitated, then added, "You should probably come."

The truth was, Tai didn't want to leave his sister alone. She was agitated, and anything might happen- including but not limited to running away. Matt had also informed the former leader that a digiport was open- a natural one. If Kari ran off, trying to get to the Digiworld, she might just end up there.

Kari shook her head. "I don't want to. I'm tired, and it won't help us find Gatomon to just repeat that we didn't. And I don't want to think about more danger. Not now."

Tai nodded, understandingly. "Ok, but Kari, I want you to stay in here. Don't go running off, alright?"

"I won't, Tai." She replied, a little too quickly.

"Kari…."

_RING! RING! RING!_

This time Kari snatched at the phone. Izzy.

"Kari, has Tai left for Matt's yet?" he asked in a rush.

"No, he's right here." She passed the phone to her older brother.

"Tai, is Kari coming to the meeting?" he asked. He knew Matt had meant the Digidestined who'd been to File Island, but Kari _was _one of the first group, and the meeting was in part about her digimon, so he wasn't certain.

"No, she wants to stay home. Probably a good thing."

"Did Matt tell you about the-"

"The opening?" he didn't want to say, "digiport". If Kari knew there was one open in the area, she be gone. He knew the look in her eye." Yeah, he did."

"Just checking. Listen, if Kari's not going, can you see if…"

"If what, Iz?"

"If she'll allow me to borrow her Digivice. I want to see if I can use it to find another signal. If I can run tests with it, maybe it will lead us true tomorrow."

Tai thought a moment. This would work. If Kari didn't have her Digivice, she couldn't go running off to the Digital world at all.

"I'll talk to her, see you in a bit."

The line went dead, and Tai hung up.

"Kari, Izzy want to borrow your Digivice." he announced. "He thinks he can fine-tune the tracking signal."

Kari looked downcast a moment. Tai was sure she had been planning to run off in the twilight back to the school. She fished the pink and silver devise out of her pocket and handed it over. Tai left soon after, already late getting to Matt's.

* * *

Kari picked at the eggplant casserole before resorting to the snacks she'd saved from Yolie's bags of food. The chocolate tasted like sawdust, having melted and hardened again.

The phone rang for the third time that evening.

"Hello?"

"Kari, sweetie!" her mother's voice rang out. "I'm glad you're home. How's the casserole?"

"Uh, fine, momma." She lied.

"Good! I wanted to tell you we won't be back for quite a while- the traffic's terrible!" Kari peeked out the window, and saw lights, a river of them, all along the streets.

"Ok, Mom. I'll see you when you get home.

"See you, Sweetheart. Love you!"

"Love you too, Mom, bye."

"Bye!"

Kari slumped down on the couch. Without her Digivice, she wouldn't be able to go back to the school and the Digital World like she'd planned. Tai hadn't made her Promise not to go back, after all. She began to fiddle with her camera, looking at the pictures she'd taken recently. Pictures of her friends, of the digimon they'd freed, of the beauty that surrounded them in the Digital world- most of the time. She laughed at some of the more silly pictures( including the food coloring fiasco).

She went to her room to upload the pictures, flipping on the computer and typing in the password.

As the dark screen came to life, and began to wake up, she wandered back to the kitchen, to hide the remains of the casserole, and noticed Tai's keys sitting on the counter, right where he'd forgotten them. She snorted. Tai was always forgetting his keys.

The computer was ready, and as she plugged in the camera, she heard a knock at the door. Glancing at her bedroom clock, she realized that Tai'd left over an hour ago- the meeting must be over, although usually when her brother's friends got together, they talked for a while longer. The Pounding at the door continued, and Kari got up from her chair, leaving her bedroom door open. She pulled open the front door.

Kari gasped, quite suddenly unable to breath.

* * *

**Ooooh, the plot thickens! *gasp!* Oh, Noes! **

**Why didn't Davis call Kari? Could it have something to do with the Digi-Port? How will T.K. react to this new development in his friendship with Kari? What are Matt and the group talking about for so long? Why hasn't Matt actually been in the story yet? Who could possible be at the door?(You get three guesses and the first two don't count.) And Why did this chapter take a friggen month to write? Some questions may never be answered. Others… see the next chapter.**

**Please Review!**

**HNA**


	7. Just Across the Street

**Author's note: Heh. It was my plan to update once every two weeks. I don't do well with deadlines. This explains my grades last year. New plan- two more chapter posted by Christmas. Anyway, big thank you to all my reviewers- I feel so loved! Also- the plot is about to thicken. Like, really thicken. Like bad stuff. Consider this your warning. (Cue ominous music and crazy laughter.)**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, the cast would have quit by now. Apparently, they don't like their friends being used in sadistic plots. Who knew?**

* * *

_At the Ishida's apartment.( which is in the building across from Tai's)_

Izzy's laptop sat open on a chair, the screen filled with the faces of Mimi and Sora, stuck at the San Francisco Airport. They'd arranged to cut the trip short upon hearing of Gatomon's capture, but the next plane leaving for Japan wouldn't leave for hours.

"Are you sure File Island is back?" Sora asked, trying to make sense of it all. When the Dark Masters had taken over, File Island had been mostly destroyed- they had seen no sign of it, with Primary village as the only exception- until now.

"Yes," Izzy replied, not looking up from Kari's Digivice. He'd found a few new functions, but nothing important- nothing that would find the captured digimon.

"What do we do?" Joe mused aloud. "I mean, if File Island is back…and the Gears, could that mean that…you know…is back?" He hesitated, not wanting to mention names. What was the saying? "Speak of the Devil"? Or rather, "Speak of the Devimon"?

Tai shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. We won't know until something happens. But now that we have the possibility of another threat- well, what's our next move? We have to beat Ken- we've got to get Gatomon back. But Devimon…he's bound to make trouble or want revenge, or something."

"Or something," Joe muttered grimly. "It's always something."

Mimi spoke up, for the first time. "I think Gatomon comes first. That horrible Emperor-he can't hurt our friends and get away with it! We don't even know if Devimon's back at all." She pumped a gloved fist in the air, and Sora nodded quickly- "For all we know, Ken re-created the Gears- I wouldn't put it past him."

A tinny voice called for a flight, and the girls announced they'd arrive by morning.

"We'll call the second we land!" Sora said as the connection broke.

* * *

_At the Kamiya apartment._

Kari's first instinct was fear. Even as she struggled to breathe, she slammed the door. But her moment of hesitation, when shock had overwhelmed her for just a heartbeat, was all the boy on the landing had needed. Already half inside, he caught the door and firmly shoved it away from him.

Kari lunged backward- and just as suddenly forward. Adrenaline and rage kicked in. With a wordless cry, she pulled back a fist- thumb tucked around, not inside her small fist, just like Tai had taught her. Ken, dressed in his perfect, white uniform hardly batted an eye, blocking her strike.

"Now, that isn't very nice," he glared.

"Nice? Nice?" Kari knew she should be grabbing the cordless phone, or her D-terminal, sitting on the counter, but instead, she just stared. "Let Gatomon go, or...or I'll show you Nice!" she raised her fists again, trembling.

But the boy genius only laughed.

"I've been taking martial arts since I could crawl. Don't flatter yourself, you could never beat me."

Kari gulped. Fear pulsed through her- Ken was now between her and any way she had to communicate with her friends. She could scream- that would surely bring the neighbors. She hadn't forgotten how Ken had gone first after Cody.

You've got five seconds to tell me where my friend is, or I'll scream." She threatened.

"Scream and your precious partner dies." He replied coolly. "I'm not stupid, Digidestined. I know what I want."

The girl slumped. _Who am I kidding? He's got all the cards. I can't let him hurt Gatomon, not if I can help it._

"What do you want?" she spat, defeated.

"It's simple really. You and your _friends_ keep messing up my plans. I need a hostage. Since you're so set on rescuing your pathetic little creature, I thought I'd save you the effort. I have a deal for you, Kari Kamiya."

* * *

_At Matt's (Ishida's)_

"So it's settled." Tai stood up and stretched. "Rescuing Gatomon is first priority, and we'll take everything else as it comes."

Izzy was still bent over his laptop- once Sora and Mimi had logged off he'd retrieved it and zoned out of the conversation, trying to hit upon just the right strand of code to locate Gatomon. so far, he was failing, but sooner or later…

Joe polished his glasses for the tenth time. "Agreed, but someone needs to tell the new group about this- T.K especially. If Devimon does come back…."

Matt finished the thought, "He might come after my brother. But it's like Mimi said. We can't think about maybes at a time like this. More than ever, we have got to be on guard, and we've got to stick together. Teamwork's pretty much all we have- and Ken's probably figured that out." He groaned. Why did everything have to happen all at once?

Izzy packed up the computer.

"Tai, could I borrow this a bit longer? I need to get home, but I think I've got something." He held up the pink Digivice and shook it gently.

At this, Tai noticed the time. "Man, Mom is gonna kill me! Matt, Joe I'll see you in the morning. Come on Izzy!" the two left quickly, and Joe wandered off soon after, leaving Matt alone. He sat for a long time, thinking. He could hear his father in the kitchen, attempting to find something edible. Sighing loudly, he took over, wishing he knew what to do next. _ I should call Teeks. He needs to know._ After dinner, he reached for the phone, intending to call T.K. and punched in the familiar numbers. The unmistakable buzz of a busy signal met him.

_Now what?_ He wondered.

* * *

_At Kari's( Kamiya's) _

Kari felt her hands go numb. She shook- not with cold, rage, or fear. She simply shook.

Ken spoke on, as if he hadn't noticed the color draining from Kari's skin. "I'll make you a deal- a trade. You come with me, the digimon goes free. It's not _that_ important. I only needed it to get a better prize- you."

Kari's knees turned to jelly. She knew what Tai would say. She knew what Gatomon would say. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered except her Promise.

"If I did," She whispered, "You'd let her go? How can I trust you?"

"You don't have much of a choice –You come or you never see it again."

Kari paused, remembering the last time her had traded herself for the life of a friend._ No matter what I do…no matter what I do, I can't stop it. Why can't I stop it? Why does it have to happen again? Oh, please, not again!_

But even as part of her inside screamed, she remained quiet. And, just as silently, Kari nodded. "Ok... I'll go with you, anywhere you want. Just don't hurt my friends."

Ken sneered at the words, before shoving Kari in front of him, down the hallway and into her room where the computer still glowed with white-blue light. Holding up his black, twisted version of a Digivice, he ordered, "Digiport, Open."

And one did.

"But you can't-" Kari hissed in astonishment.

"I just did," was the reply before both 11-year olds were sucked into the digital world.

* * *

_!0 minutes Later_

Tai flew through the door and came screeching to a halt. His parents stood, arms folded, in the middle of the hallway.

"Uh, hi Mom, Dad. What's up?"

"Tai, where have you been?"

"At Matt's, Mom, I…"

"You were at Matt's all day!" Mrs. Kamiya's eyes blazed, "Do you realize you left the door open, the lights on…and where is your sister?"

Tai's eyes widened. "But Kari's here. We came back, but I forgot something and had to go get it…Kari stayed home." _No. Kari can't be gone. She...she _can't_ be!_

"What do you mean, she stayed home? She isn't here, Tai."

Mr. Kamiya, who was more than happy to let his wife deal with Tai's curfew, had turned on the TV. The news came on, and a new announcer spoke rapidly as two photos blazed on the screen.

"…Both missing children are 11 years old, but this is the only link between the two cases. Parents are advised to…"

Mrs. Kamiya stared at the television. She sat down suddenly.

"Tai…we found the door open. If Kari's not with you...then where is she?" her voice was faint.

Tai's eyes swept over the counter- his keys, Kari's D-terminal…no note. Kari wouldn't have gone anywhere without a note, much less without her D-Terminal. A glance into their shared room revealed her computer on, camera plugged in, journal on the bedside table. She hadn't gone for a walk. She'd been taken somewhere, by someone. And Tai had a very, very good idea- scratch that, he was positive that he knew who it was.

"_I'll kill him_." He whispered, and he meant it. "Mom, I'm going to call around… Maybe she went over to T.K's or Yolie's."

"Do you think so?" he hated deceiving his mother. She sounded so hopeful.

"It's possible…"

He went into his room with the cordless, and dialed, praying that Kari really had just been upset enough at him to go off.

* * *

_The Inoue's_

"_YO_-LIE!" a shrill voice called. "_TELE_-PHONE!"

"I'm coming, Hana, Just a second!" the glasses clad girl left her room. Her family, loud and crazy as ever, hadn't understood why she'd wanted to go to bed so early.

She'd been half asleep, but every time she'd managed to nod off, _someone_ managed to wake her.

"It better be the end off the world," she muttered as she took the phone." Hello?"

"Yolie?" the voice was Tai's, and panicky.

"Huh? Tai? What is it?" she asked sleepily.

"Is Kari with you?" the Digidestind asked urgently.

"No, what do you mean, is Kari with me? I was asleep, and we live halfway across town, why would she be" she yawned, but was becoming a bit more alert, "Why would she be here?"

But Tai had already hung up.

_The end of the world... if Kari's missing, it's probably just that._ Yolie thought, returning to her room to fetch the snoring Poromon before calling to her mother that 'she'd be right back' and fleeing the insanity of her home for what was certain to be the insanity of another.

* * *

_The Kamiya's_

Tai stared at the phone. He'd called everyone. No one had seen Kari. T.K and Davis had both hung up even before he could, and were on their way over now. No one had answered at Cody's, and he hadn't bothered to call the older group- he lived by far the closest to Matt, with the exception of Izzy, so none of them would even be home yet.

In vain, he called school friends- Sana, Doryu, Turle, Lin, May- everyone he could think of.

It was no use. Kari wasn't with any of her friends. Tai had known that, but some part of him had hoped…

He emerged from his room, handing off the cordless phone to his mother, who took one look at his face and called the police. Her voice was tight as she spoke.

"Hello, I…I need to report a missing child…"

Izzy looked up from his computer. He'd been trying to work out his latest theory, and it was not going well. Oh, he'd found a way to find Gatomon, but things were far easier said that done, and it didn't help that he was about to collapse. Something had startled him out of the electronic trance.

Another knock on his door, his mother's voice, "Izzy, are you in there? Someone's at the door for-"

The red-head threw open the door and saw Tai, fist poised to knock again.

"Tai? I'm in the middle of a theory right now, and I-"

Tai cut him off. "It doesn't matter anymore, Iz."

Izzy frowned. "What do you mean, it doesn't matter. We all agreed; Gatomon is our first priority. You can't just decide that she isn't- it doesn't work that way. Just because you're our leader doesn't mean that you can…"

"Izzy, she's gone. Kari's…he took her."

Izzy could only stare in wide-eyed shock, unsure of what to do, what to say. His mouth felt dry, and the room seemed colder. There was no question of who "he" was.

They stood in silence for several moments.

The computer began to chime, and Izzy jumped.

He hurried over to the computer, and began to type rapidly.

"I'm trying to get a fix on Ken's D-3," he explained to the older boy." I figured if we could find him, we'd find Gatomon- or Kari."

Tai bit his lip. "Can you do that?" he asked, wistfully. If it was that easy…_Oh, please, let it be that easy. Please._

"It's not going to be easy, but it can be done." Izzy nodded carefully.

Again there was silence.

"My mom's told me to hurry back. I...I should go." Tai said at last. "But call the minute you get anything."

"I will." Izzy promised gravely.

"Thank you." Tai blinked before letting himself out.

He climbed the flight of stairs to his floor and opened the door. His parents stood in the center of the living room with two police officers, who were staring at the door.

"This is our son, Tai." Mr. Kamiya introduced.

"Hello, Tai." The policewoman said, nodding and extending a hand. "I'm Detective Hayato, and this is my partner, Detective Minoru."

Tai took her hand- her grip was strong.

"We have a few preliminary questions," Detective Minoru said. He was a tall man, broad shouldered, but his voice was quiet.

"Please, sit down." The wobble in Mrs. Kamiya's voice was stronger than it had been earlier.

Detective Hayato pulled a small notepad from her pocket.

"What is your daughter's full name?"

"Kari Mitsu Kamiya."

"Age?"

"She just turned 11 two months ago."

Tai noticed the flash of worry in the bird-like eyes of the woman. She wrote something down on the page before glancing up to continue asking questions

"Height? And do you have any recent photos of Kari?"

" I'll go get one." Tai was relieved to be able to do something, even though he knew that the police could search and search, and they'd never find Kari, not in the digital world.

He glanced, for a moment, at the camera, still attached to the computer. Although it held the most recent pictures of Kari, he couldn't use them. The Digimon in the photos would raise far too many questions, and his parents would never let him out of their sight again, if they knew that 'the monsters' were back. Instead, he pulled the photo album off it's shelf by Kari's bunk, and filled to the end.

There was a picture from the birthday party. Kari was grinning, holding her new camera in one hand and a slice of chocolate cake- store bought, thankfully- in the other.

He peeled the picture from the sticky page, and briefly held it to his chest.

"Hang on, Kari." He whispered. "I'm coming."

He gave the picture to the detectives, who studied it for a moment before placing it aside.

"Has Kari been acting oddly lately? Is it possible that she ran away? Most missing persons cases aren't kidnappings, so we need to cover all our bases." Detective Minoru's soft voice was kind and reassuring.

"She has been acting strange this past month…always off with her friends. And then this week…she was very quiet and sad at dinner Friday, and gone all day today. But I don't think she...she's not the kind of girl to run away." Mr. Kamiya stumbled over the words.

Tai piped up. "She didn't run away. Her shoes are still here, and her camera and-" he cut himself off, before saying ' Digivice'. "And all her stuff."

"Alright, son, it's just something we need to ask."

Rapid fire knocking at the door caused everyone to jump. Mrs. Kamiya, who was seated closest raced to the door, praying.

As she opened the door, her face fell.

"Tai…your friends are here." She swallowed disappointment. "Kids…now isn't really a good time."

Davis spoke first. "Mrs. K, Tai called us. We figured, uh, that."

Yolie cut him off with a sharp look." She'd noticed the cops." We figured that since we were some of the last people to see Kari, we might be able to help, or something."

T.K didn't say anything, only followed his friends as they entered the apartment.

"These are some of Kari's school friends," Mrs. Kamiya told the detectives. "She was with them all day today."

"Wonderful." Detective Hayato nodded at each of them. "Could I have your names and phone numbers?"

They told her, and she wrote them down.

After asking a few questions- if they'd noticed anything odd, if someone had followed them, if Kari had acted strange, the detectives stood.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya, we'd like to talk to you alone. Afterwards, you'll need to come to the station- there's paperwork to be filled out, among other things." Detective Minoru explained

Tai and the three younger Digidestined retreated to his room, where they demanded an explanation from him. As he told them about coming home, and finding no sign of Kari, and his conversation with Izzy, confusion turned to anger.

"Ken can't get away with this!" T.K.'s eyes were like Ice, and he was frowning. "It's one thing to attack all of us in the digital world, where we can fight back, but going after Kari, on Earth!" he clenched his teeth. It was bad enough, what Ken'd done, hurting all those digimon. But kidnapping Gatomon and Kari was too much._ ? If he hurts her, I'll kill him._ The blond boy thought angrily._ He's got to pay for this._

"What are we-" Yolie started, but Tai shushed her. He'd crept back to the door and was listening.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya, your daughter is the third 11 year old to go missing in the last 12 hours. This morning, the local boy genius, Ken Ichijouji, was reported missing, and between noon and two o' clock another boy, Kaeru "Frog" Sato. Both have nothing in common, save for being 11 and having acted strangely in the past week. We are very concerned that there is more going on than we know. We'd like you two to come down to the station and meet with the other parents- any connection you have with them might be the key to rescuing those children." Detective Hayato spoke slowly and clearly, but urgently too.

Davis groaned. "Ken's in the digital world. They'll never find him or Kari! I say we get the others and tear apart the Digi-world. He started pacing. _Why didn't I call? I should have. Maybe if I'd called, she'd have answered, and…and we'd have been talking when _he _showed up. Who does he think he is, anyway...I'll kill him. _

Yolie looked at Tai. "It's…It's your call. I can call my parents right now, and tell them I'm at the airport, waiting for Sora and Mimi with you guys. They won't like it, but they won't argue." Her eyes glowed with resolve, despite the heavy bags beneath them.

Tai was staring at something in his hand- Kari's D-terminal." No," he said quietly. "It's late. We searched all day, got more and more digimon to look…I won't risk you guys getting hurt- the digital world is dangerous enough in the light when you're awake…and it…" he stopped suddenly, shaking. "It won't do Kari any good if something happens while we search."

He got up from the spinny chair. "Go home, rest, get ready. I'll meet you here first thing in the morning, and maybe by then Izzy or someone will have something. "

They started to protest, but Tai cut them off sharply. "There isn't anything else we can do!" it came out loader than he'd expected.

There was silence on the other side of the door, and then it opened. "Tai, your mother and I are going to the Police Station. You can come if you think you should, but your mother and I would prefer that you stay with a friend."

Tai nodded. "I'll call Matt."

"Alright, son. We'll call as soon as we can. Don't…don't go anywhere alone, alright?"

Tai nodded, and Mr. Kamiya looked at the others. "That goes for you three, too. You can call your parents for a ride, or take the public roads and stay together."

They promised they would, and Tai packed an overnight bag.

Tai realized as he added an extra shirt to the bag that he still hadn't told Matt what had happened.

T.K woke Patamon, who had been slumbering silently in his gym bag the whole time, and explained. The other two digimon, who were not as powerful, resisted waking, but eventually did. They were horrified to hear what had occurred.

A minute later, the six left, promising to call Tai's cell phone when they arrived home, a precaution he had insisted upon.

Alone at last, Tai dialed.

Matt picked up on the first ring.

"Matt? It's Tai. I…" everything hit him at once. He'd failed his little sister. He hadn't protected her. Her nightmares had come back, and now Ken had taken her. He'd left her protection to someone else, and now…everything was repeating.

"Tai, what is it?" Matt's voice was tense. "Tai? Are you there? I can't get a hold of Teeks, and-"

"Your brother's fine. It's Kari."

"What? What is it, what's going on?"

"He was here, Matt! Ken was here, in my apartment, he was right across the street. He took her, Matt, he…that monster kidnapped my baby sister, and I was right across the street!" and Tai started to cry, something he hadn't done since leaving the digital world.

"Oh, man, Tai…I'll be right over, I…Tai, I'm sorry." Matt was at a loss. Kari, kidnapped? He was relieved for a moment that his own sibling was safe, but the moment passed, and he felt awful.

"Wait. Mom and Dad went to file a missing persons case, and the police think that it's connected to other cases. Can I spend the night? I didn't want to go, and they didn't want anybody staying alone in the apartment."

"Of course you can, you're my best friend. I'll see you in a few, Dad won't mind."

"Thanks." Tai hung up, slowly.

He made a pit stop at Izzy's, who handed over Kari's digivice. "I'm tracking Ken, and my own Digivice would be just as useful. Or as useless. It's harder than I thought, but don't worry, I'm not going to quit until I've got something."

Tai managed a wistful smile at that. "Thanks, Izzy. But try to get some sleep, alright? We're going to need everyone ."

The shorter boy nodded without taking his eyes off the screen.

"I'll alert our forces, and see if they've got any ideas. Lie searching for portals…that might work." He spun around.

"You need to sleep too, Tai. I'm just the tech guy. You and Matt were always the strongest and the younger guys are pretty much the only ones who can fight." he yawned. "I'll see you in the morning."

"See you."

Sleep did not come easily for Tai. He lay on Matt's couch, staring at the ceiling, at his hands, at Kari's camera, waiting for tomorrow, and what tomorrow might bring.

"Hold on, Kari. We'll find you. I'll find you. Just hold on."

* * *

**OOOOHHH!**

**I'm just horrible, aren't I? Can I help that I love this kind of story? No, I can't. Also, I'm sorry that the digimon didn't do much of anything. I'm bad at remembering to use them. They'll be in the next chapter, probably. : )**

**So a quick note about the names: Mitsu isn't Kari's real middle name. I don't know if she has one. I picked it from a list of Japanese names when I saw that it meant "Light."(points to any who can tell my why this is hilarious.) The two detectives both have meaningful names- ****Minoru means 'truth' and Hayato 'falcon-person'. Also, the third random missing kid? yeah, his name/nick name( which mean the same thing) is significant, but only if you've read ' Chasing Vermeer.'**

**Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! If it seems odd, my excuse is that when I finally got around to writing it, I was/ still am sick with a cold. So yeah.**

**Please, please, please, review. preferably with specifics(" I loved this" " I was confused by that" " where's my cookie?" " wth happened to Cody?" etc) I'll give you a digital cookie, a shout out and a sneak peak of the next chappy when I get around to writing it! Reviews make me write faster!**

**~~~HNA**


	8. A Captive Light

**Author's note: What's this? Another chapter up within a month? Gasp! I felt kinda bad for leaving you all with such a downer ending. Well, only a bit. It's going to get worse. A **_**lot**_** worse. Just warning you. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm certainly grateful for all of you readers!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I don't own any Digimon Characters. I don't even own my own Plot Bunnies!( they revolted last summer…long story.)**

**And now…Chapter 7!**

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_Kari whimpered in terror, clinging to Gatomon. Tai watched helplessly from his roof top, just across from the one where his baby sister stood, trembling. He knew he couldn't jump that far. _

"_Kari!" he called desperately._

_Her head turned, red-brown eyes filled with pleading._

" _Tai, Help me!"_

" _I'm coming!"_

_He was too far away, too far away._

_The nightmare who shared the studio's roof grinned, fangs glinting in the sunlight. In his hands a dark ball formed, pulsing blackness._

"_**Grisly Wing**__!"_

_There was nothing he could do. Nothing anyone could do._

"_NO!" Tai screamed, but it was too late. The wings engulfed the tiny digimon and girl. Gatomon disintegrated, turning to shining dust in seconds. Kari lay there, face down on the tiled roof._

_Still._

_Unmoving._

_Dead._

_Myotismon laughed._

_Tai fell to his knees, shaking, tears running down his face._

"_Kari…No. No!"_

He awoke with a start.

At first he did not recognize the darkened room. His heart beating rapidly, Tai sat up, looking from side to side, his blanket falling to the floor beside the couch. It only took a few moments to remember- Matt's. Kari's kidnapping. He reached up to rub sleep from his eyes, and found wetness, the remnants of tears he'd shed within nightmares.

"It was only a dream. Just a nightmare." Tai whispered the words to himself, his voice dry and hoarse. The images continued to replay, just as vivid as the dream itself, no matter how he tried to shake them away.

His fingers closed on an object on the coffee tale, and he cupped it in one hand. Kari's Digivice lay there, not glowing, not beeping, just still.

Still clutching his sister's Digivice, Tai groped blindly for his own, then got to his feet. Silently creeping out onto the tiny balcony, Tai help both and wished.

"_Take me to the Digital World."_

There was silence, and the tall boy squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the familiar sensation. He'd done this nearly a dozen times in the past few years, when portals had opened.

But this time, nothing happened. Tai waited a few seconds, then opened his eyes with a sigh. The Portal had closed. He had been too late.

The world was glittering with lights, and as Tai stared, he found them starting to blur. He wiped at his eyes, trying to hold back the tears.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm sorry I didn't protect you. I should have been there. I should have gone after you as soon as I knew. Oh, Kari, I'm sorry."

He found himself remembering Kari's first night in the digital world. She'd had nightmares, and he'd tried everything he could to comfort her…

* * *

_It was dark out. darker than dark, nothing like Home, where streetlights and 24-hour stores lit the world. Here, there were only tiny stars, and a falling campfire. Kari hunched her shoulders against the darkness, shaking. She was terrified of the dark. But even more than the dark, she was terrified of going back to sleep. Something cracked in the shadows, and she squeaked, too terrified to even scream. Gatomon awoke with a jolt, eyes wide and mouth open, a name on her lips._

_It was only Tai._

"_Hey sis, it's just me." he soothed, giving his sister a bear hug._

"_Tai, I'm scared. I had a bad dream, and it's dark out." she hated admitting it, but the words tumbled from her mouth._

_Tai didn't know what to say at first. He didn't blame the little girl for being frightened, but didn't know how to make her feel better. _

_He picked up a small branch from the pile of twigs they group had gathered for the fire, and traced a circle on the ground around her._

"_This is a magic circle," he told her, repeating the words of some myth he'd read in school. "As long as you are in it, nothing can hurt you. It might not make the dreams go away, but just remember that you are protected, ok?"_

_Kari nodded, trying to be brave, then curled up around Gatomon._

_Whatever dreams she had, they were not remembered, nor did they wake her that night._

_

* * *

_

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned quickly.

"Hey, man." Matt's blond hair, usually gelled, was mussed. "What are you doing out here?" he noticed the two Digivices." Oh."

"It didn't work." Tai said, needlessly. He turned back to the skyline. "I should have been home. I could have been, and I wasn't. I could have told Yolei and Davis and T.K., 'let's go, right now, we have to go find them.' and we would have, but I didn't. I _didn't._"

Matt bit his lip, unsure of what to say. _"I don't know what I'd do if it was T.K. would I have insisted we all go after them? Probably."_

"Matt, did…did I do the right thing?" Tai looked over the railing, down four stories to the ground. In the semi darkness, it seemed an eternity, and endless moment, and endless fall. It made him dizzy, so he turned away and stared at his friend.

At last, Matt nodded. "Yeah. Kari wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, you know that. And Tai, don't worry, we'll find them. We'll find them, and we'll kick Ken's imperial butt. Kari and Gatomon will be fine."

The corners of Tai's mouth twitched into a small smile. "You think so?"

"Dude, we took down the Devil, Elvis, a vampire, a clown from Hell, and Evil itself." Matt listed them, counting with his fingers, "There's no way we're going to lose to some whiney kid genius."

Tai smiled even wider. "Thanks Matt. I owe you."

"What are friends for?" the blond shrugged, then turned to go back in. After a moment, Tai followed, pausing only to glance again at the sky.

* * *

Kari winced and rubbed the lump on the back of her head. Noticing her surroundings for the first time, her eyes widened and she muffled a shriek. She remembered the trip through the portal, a tunnel of light and power, but nothing after.

"I guess I hit my head," she said aloud. Her voice sounded oddly flat and distant.

She was in a small room, stone or brick, she couldn't quite tell in the gloom. One wall was made of bars, and what little light there was came from beyond them. She hunched her shoulders and pulled her knees close to her chest. It was so dark. She hated the dark.

The soft blue light grew stronger, and soon Kari heard the _click, click, click_ of footsteps on whatever stone or tile the outside hallway was made of. She tried to stand, but her feet were numb from being still for so long, and she stumbled forward, falling back to the cold floor.

Ken laughed. Kari glared up at her captor, who now stood directly in front of her cell, Wormmon at his heels.

"Alright, you have me. You've got me locked up. What do you want? Or did you just come to brag?"

He snorted at that. "Why would I tell you any of my plans? Do I look like someone from a James Bond movie? And as for gloating, that violates at least a half dozen of the "Supreme Overlord Rules". It's really quite pathetic."

Kari was confused for a moment, but shook her head.

"If you aren't here to gloat, or tell me why you were after me, then why are you here?"

"You still have something I need, your Digivice."

"_Like I'd just give it to him. My D3 is how Tai and everyone will find me._

"Hand it over. Now!"

"No." her voice shook

"I mean it, girl. Hand it over, or your little cat friend pays the price."

"**YOU SAID YOU"D LET HER GO!"** Kari exploded, her entire body shaking with anger.

"I did. And I will." Ken grinned, coldly. "Just not yet. Now, give. Me. Your. Digivice."

"_I can't give it up. My Digivice is the only way they'll be able to track me-us- here. The signal might be weak here, but-"_ suddenly she remembered. Tai had her Digivice, and her D Terminal was on the kitchen counter. _"oh no. oh, no, no, nonono."_

"I'm waiting…"_click, click, click_ went the boy's shoe, tapping impatiently

Kari felt in her pockets. She'd give it to him, if only to protect Gatomon, but she didn't have it!

"Wormmon, go and find that weakling of a digimon, and-." Ken began.

"Wait! I…I don't have it." Kari swallowed. "I left it with..._at…_my school. Let Gatomon go, don't hurt her!"

"You said ' with'. With who?"

"I…I said "at school". No one has it." Kari lied. She didn't know what he wanted with her Digivice, but she wasn't about to let her brother and friends become a target.

"A likely story." Ken snarled. "But it doesn't matter who has it."

"_Doesn't matter? He was going to hurt Gatomon for it, and he says it doesn't matter? What's going on?"_ Kari thought for a long moment, before declaring, " Yeah, it doesn't. Even without it, my friends will still find me, and then you'll be in for it. You'll see, they'll be here soon."

"I know they will. That's what I'm counting on." His laugh was cut short by a clatter of stones.

Wormmon had returned, a Gotusmon at its heels. In its stony arms lay a quivering bundle of white fur.

"Gatomon." Kari cried out. She reached one arm through the bars, trying to reach her battered partner.

Ken punched a small button on a keypad, and a small hole opened near the top of the cell, just above Kari's head. Gotsumon heaved and Gatomon came tumbling in. Kari fell to her knees and scooped up her friend.

"Gatomon, oh, Gatomon," she whispered, burying her face in the cat digimon's warm fur.

"Kari…?" Gatomon's voice was weak. "No….not Kari. Not real." She began to paw at her eyes, at her head.

" Gatomon, it's me, it's not a dream, or a delusion. I'm here"

"Kari?" soft eyes started to clear, then filled with tears. "Kari, why ..are you...here? how?"

"He said he'd let you go. I couldn't let you get hurt any more."

"But he's going to destroy everything…he's going to-"

"How touching." Ken interrupted. "You'd do anything for a friend, wouldn't you? Your friends are just the same. You're all so loyal, so vulnerable." He shook his head in mock disgust. "Although it does make my job much easier."

As she clung to Gatomon, Kari realized what he meant. He'd come right out with it when he'd come to her home. "_I'm his hostage…and his bait. When the others come...oh, no ,It's going to happen again, I know it. Oh, why?" _

Frantic, she hugged Gatomon closer, and whispered in the feline's ear, "Tell them not to come. Tell them not to come."

The dazed cat nodded, confused.

"Well, that's enough heartwarmingly tender moments." The Digimon Emperor rolled his eyes, and pressed another button. This time, part of the floor started to glow. "There is no reason why I should bother with my end of the deal, but since it means so much to you," Ken laughed at that, "your little creature has its freedom. That Tile-port will drop it somewhere far from here."

Gatomon looked uncertainly at the tile.

"I can't just leave you here." She said to Kari. The girl shook her head.

"Go. Tell them. Please, for me."

Slowly, sadly, Gatomon did as she was directed. There was a burst of light, and with a call of farewell, she was gone.

When the light had died down, Kari noticed that she was alone. Ken and his two digimon slaves were gone. All was darkness again.

She sat there, staring into the murk, shivering. "I'm not going to get out of this." She said, breaking the silence. "I can't get out on my own, but if Tai or T.K. or anyone comes… something bad's going to happen. And it'll be my fault." She hid her face in her hands, at last giving into the tears that had been building. She was alone, she was trapped.

"I'm sorry I let you all down. Everyone, I'm sorry. The digital worlds in even more danger, all because of me. I failed you all."

The darkness was heavy, and it made everything even worse. Unable to stop her tears, she traced something on the stone, a simple circle. Then she curled into it, hugging her arms tightly to her chest._ I wish I wasn't alone. I wish I wasn't so afraid."_

One hand found the thin cord around her neck, and she pulled it, drawing out the pendant. Although she couldn't see it well, she knew it by heart. Sleek, pink and gold, it was the replica Crest of Light that Wizardmon had used to find her, and had given to her the night she had met Gatomon.

"I won't let it be like last time. I won't." her voice was determined, but already she was falling asleep, the rush of adrenaline at an end. As her eyes closed, she thought she saw a spark of pink light, but reasoned as she fell into slumber, that it had only been a dream.

She did not see it deepen into a glow, or surround her like the imaginary protection circle.

The light flickered, sputtered, and vanished.

* * *

**So this one's a bit shorter, but hey. It's late, my pinky fingers been acting up, and it was a good stopping point. And by good, yes, I do mean cliff hanger-y. I hope you all liked it! So like always, please review. I mean it, please? Previews/ sneak peeks go out to anyone who reviews, by the way. Extra long ones for those who know what movie I stole Tai's protection circle from. : )**

**Anyway, next chapter should be up soonish. It's another short one, but I'll be posting a long one after that. :) I've got them all planned out.**

~HNA


	9. Attempted Rescue

**Chapter 8**

**Author's note: Hey all! I hope you are having a wonderful December- Hanukkah has come and gone, but other holidays are fast approaching! With this chapter, ****A Captive Light **** has become the longest fanfiction I've written. And this chapter, by the way, is a Christmas/ other seasonal holiday Miracle. I have been all over everywhere these past two weeks, cleaning, babysitting, trying to get gifts made, wrapped, cleaning more, … so how I found the time to write this is **_**insane**_**. That said, please review. There are loads of you readers, according to the story stats and alerts list, and I'd like your opinions! Please? * tiny kitten face* mew?**

**Disclaimer: Christmahanukkakwanzamon: Hedgi doesn't own digimon. And Santa's not bringing it to her. Ever. I mean, have you seen the cliffhangers this girl writes? Definitely made the naughty list for that.**

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Chapter 8

Someone shook Tai awake. His eyes blinked open instantly, and he sat up with a start.

Izzy stood, his laptop partially open under one arm. His eyes were grave, and he was frowning.

"Izzy? What are you doing here?" Tai shook his head. "Never mind, what is it?" panic crept into his voice. "What's wrong?"

The redhead swallowed. "It's not good news, Tai. It's-"

"Kari? Is she ok? What happened, what did you learn?" Tai interrupted, his heart pounding._ "Please, please let her be alright. Let her be safe."_

But Izzy shook his head. "It's not Kari, Tai. It's Sora and Mimi. There was a problem, I don't know what for certain, but something went wrong with one of the engines and-"

Again, Tai cut him off, franticly. "No! Oh, no, no. Did they crash? Are they hurt? How did you find out? Tell me they're ok, Iz, tell me everything's fine. I can't-"

This time someone else cut Tai off. Sora's voice came from the laptop. "Tai, relax. We're fine. We had to make an emergency landing in Hawaii, but no one's hurt."

Mimi's slightly shrill voice joined in. "See, Izzy, _that's_ how you're _supposed_ to act when we tell you one of the engines failed."

Izzy opened up the screen.

"If you'd let me finish…I'm sorry Tai, I guess my choice of words was rather poor. What I meant to convey was that Sora and Mimi are stuck in Hawaii, so they won't be arriving to help us search."

"Oh," Tai exhaled, numb. "Well, it's good that no one got hurt." He sat back. "How long till you get here?"

"A day, maybe longer." Sora answered, grimacing. "Our plane can't be fixed right away, and most of the seats on the other planes going to Japan from here are booked. Have you gotten any leads about Gatomon? We worried all during the flight. Mimi sent out some emails before takeoff, but we haven't heard back." Mimi nodded, munching on some kind of pastry.

She peered at the screen, "Hey, Tai, are you ok? And why are you at Matt's?"

Tai felt his heart plunge. He didn't want to say it, even though he knew that no amount of pretending would turn last night's events into a delusion. "No. No leads. We've got pretty much nothing." His voice was hollow, and sad. The girls' faces fell.

"Oh, Tai, I'm sure you'll find something" Mimi bit her lip. "I wish we could be there to help. How's Kari holding up?"

Tai tensed, and Mimi recalled his earlier words to Izzy.

"_Kari? Is she ok?"_

Sora clapped her hands over her mouth, and Mimi shook her head, the sharp pink of her hair dye standing out against the dull background of the airport's lobby.

"What happened?"

"When I got home last night, Mom and Dad were there…and she wasn't. Ken took her, or lured her away, or something." Sora could have sworn there were tears in her best friend's eyes. Shoulders heaving with each calming breath, Tai continued. "We don't know where, or why, but she's gone, and we don't have any clues."

Mimi balled up her fists. "That Digimon Emperor or whatever he calls himself. Ooooh. He crossed the line." Eyes like steel, she sat up straight. "I'll sic my army on him, that son of a-"

Sora cut her friend off. "Tai, I'm so sorry. We'll be there as soon as we can. We'll tell the airport people it's a family emergency, or we'll bribe someone to give us their seats, or something. Don't give up." Desperation crept into her voice, and anger too. "We'll find him, we will, and he'll regret messing with us. Mimi's army will be up in arms in seconds if she asks, and who knows, maybe a portal will open up here. Everything's going to be fine."

Tai nodded solemnly. "See you later, then."

"Ok, bye." Sora smiled encouragingly.

"See you soon, Tai." Mimi added. "And remember, it's not your fault".

He didn't respond to that, only believing her a little. It had been his fault.

The screen went dark, and Izzy cleared his throat. He'd been silent throughout the conversation, and only now spoke up.

"Matt's already up. I'm going to go to the school and check to see if there are any portals opening near the girls. Eat something, then meet me there." He left soon after, and through the window, Tai could see his bright red hair crossing the street far below.

Tai reached for the phone. As he punched the familiar numbers of his father's cell, Matt called from the kitchen.

"Hey, do you want eggs or pancakes?"

"Whatever's fastest!" he answered as the phone rang. Once. Twice.

"Eggs it is." Matt's voice sounded strained- he was trying to be cheerful, but was failing. That one of their own had been targeted, that one of his friends had been kidnapped, hurt.

He beat the eggs with a fork, blending them with precision, imagining that the yolks were the enemies he had listed to Tai earlier- and Ken. Mostly Ken. The skillet steamed, and he hurried to pour the egg-goo into it. He wished that he'd made cereal instead- it would have been much faster. He didn't want to wait a moment longer to go after his friend.

Tai set down the receiver with a click. Wandering into the kitchen, Matt handed him a piece of toast with scrambled egg on it.

"We can eat on the way. Dad's at church, but I think God would rather I help find Kari and Gatomon. 'A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need,' and all that."

Tai took the toast gratefully and started to eat. "Thanks, Matt." Matt knew he didn't mean for just the breakfast.

"Don't mention it."

They left, locking the door to the apartment behind them.

* * *

_In Hawaii_

Mimi typed angrily, writing an email to send to the television screens where her so-called army lived. Izzy had taught her how to do it when he'd been in New York for some computer genius convention a few months earlier. She told her massive group of digimon allies about Ken's abduction of Gatomon and later, Kari, and asked them to mobilize if possible, to report any signs of the three to one of the Digidestined's digimon or to one of the children. "_…we cannot allow the Emperor to win, or to hurt anyone more. He must be stopped before he stops simple enslaving you and moves on to doing worse harm. With his Dark spires, there isn't much I can do to stop him, but the younger ones can. That's why we need your help. Kari is one of the only truly effective allies we have, and unless we band together, all of us, Kari and Gatomon included, we cannot hope to be able to defeat Ken. I cannot be there to lead you. Please find Kari, and follow her as you would me. Alone we are weak, but together, Ken is no match for us. Free any digimon you see under his power, take down spires if you cannot aid us in the search for our missing friends…"_

Sora stopped pacing and glanced at the screen. "Wow, Meems, you sound like a general or something."

Mimi looked up and grinned. "I've been taking creative and persuasive writing classes. It shows, doesn't it? And all the war movies we've been watching in History don't hurt." She turned back to the laptop, and Sora went to wait in line to speak to someone in charge with other stranded passengers.

"_Ken can't get away with this. It's one thing to attack in the digital world, where we can fight back, but coming after Kari in her own home is just too much. I knew he was evil, but how can someone younger than I am be so cruel?"_ She looked up to the ceiling, and prayed that there'd be a way for them to get to Japan soon. The line seemed to go on forever.

Mimi typed the last line,_ "… Let us fight for our freedom! All for one and one for all! Long live the revolution! Lots of love, Mimi."_

_

* * *

_

_In Japan, Cody's_

Cody listened to the message on the phone again.

"_Hi, Cody? It's T.K. Listen, you need to get to the school as soon as you get this in the morning. Kari went missing last night, and Ken is missing too- so we have to get to the DW right away. See you then, hurry."_

Cody erased the message before his mother could hear it. He went back to his room and started to get dressed.

Upamon opened his eyes. "Cody, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Oh, Upamon, everything's worse. Kari… Ken must have kidnapped her, because they've both been reported missing, and now he's got her, and it's all my fault." It came out in one breathless rush.

Upamon blinked. "Cody, it's not your fault." But the serious boy wouldn't listen.

With Upamon stuffed into his bag, he headed towards the door, but his Grandfather stopped him in the kitchen.

"Cody, where are you going? You look troubled. Sit down, and tell me what's wrong?"

Cody sat down at the table. "I… one of my friends got…hurt protecting me." he said, choosing his words carefully. "It should have been me, but she got hurt instead. It was my fault. I should have been more careful, but I wasn't."

Cody's grandfather frowned. "Cody, is someone at school picking on you?"

Cody shook his head vigorously, "no, no one at school."

"Tell me this, you blame yourself, yes?"

"It was because of me that she got hurt…"

"Cody, if it had been your friend in danger, and you got hurt protecting her, would you blame your friend for the injury?"

"Of course not!" Cody exclaimed, standing up. "But it wasn't like that."

"If your friend is a true friend, she would not blame you, and I do not believe you have any friends that are not true friends. Do not blame yourself, Grandson. If you spend all your time feeling bad about the past, you cannot help fix the future."

The old man smiled, and Cody bowed. "Thank you, Grandpa. I need to go now."

He left feeling better than he had since Friday night.

Cody was the last to arrive in the computer lab, but he saw at once that he had not delayed the trip. Yolie was shoving food from plastic sacks into backpacks, Joe was triple checking his first aid kit, and Izzy was looking at a blinking map of the sectors of the digital world. Tai paced, circling the room, and Matt spoke quietly to T.K. Davis sat, strangely still, and stared at his Digivice.

Cody cleared his throat. "Sorry I'm late." Izzy looked up from his work.

"Is that everyone? Good, I'm just about…done."

He disconnected his laptop from the school computer. "I've down loaded a program that will synthesize the map of the digital world onto my laptop, so I can keep track of everything from my house." He pointed to the screen. I haven't picked up any signals, but there are some digimon with reports of points of interest in four sectors. Splitting up seems to be the best course of action." He stood up. "I'm going back home- my parents know about Gatomon, and they're more than willing to pretend we're all there. For the record, you're all learning about computers, getting help with homework and/or comforting Tai." The others nodded, and Izzy opened the door to leave. "Email if you find anything at all. If we get enough data, I think we can…" and he was gone.

Davis scratched his head. "Ok, I understood about half of that. Let's go!"

Tai nodded, looking at the sheet of paper Izzy had printed out. it was a map of the sectors, the same that Izzy had been studying. Four sectors, three the dark color of Ken's territory, one the liberated white, were circled in red ink.

"Ok, who wants what?" He asked, eager to go after his sister.

Teams of searchers were decided upon, and the computer screen flashed.

"Digiport open!"

* * *

Tai stood in the open, looking around. He, Joe and Cody had elected to take the area closest to where a group of Numamon had seen Ken. Since there was also a spire, Armadillomon and Agumon had pointed out that destroying it would make a good start. But as they three boys drew near, something- someone else did as well.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here?" Ken stood on the shoulder of a huge dark Tyranamon.

Tai turned a shade of red that had never been seen before, and never would be again. Gritting his teeth, he demanded. "WHERE. IS. MY. SISTER?"

Ken laughed. "Why should I tell you, worm?"

"Tell me, or I'll kill you!"

"Pass." The blue haired boy faked a yawn, then ordered the ring clad digimon to attack. Joe dived for cover as Gomamon summoned his attack, "**Marching fishes!**"

But the mostly useless attack proved to be even more useless, and the Dark Tyrannamon hardly seemed fazed.

Cody looked at his own partner. "You ready?"

"I was born ready, Cody."

"Alright!" Cody pulled his D terminal and D3 from his pocket. "**Digiarmor Energize**!"

**Armadillomon digivolve to…Digmon!**

"**Goldrush!"** cried Digmon, aiming his five powerful drills at the dark ring around the huge digimon's neck.

But the powerful monster lifted one massive claw, and batted the flying drills to one side. They returned to Digmon who looked shocked. "Hey, that's not supposed to happen!" he cried, but Dark Tyrannamon didn't listen.

As the enslaved Digimon swung his tail, sending dust into the air, Tai made a quick decision.

"Joe!" he shouted, coughing. "Get to the spire. If we can knock it down, maybe…"

Joe was up and running, Gomamon lurching beside him, still dazed.

Ken didn't seem to care, or even notice. His ice blue eyes were locked on his next target.

"**Pepper Breath!" **Agumon called. With a '_poi', _the burst of orange flame struck the larger dinosaur. But again, the attack hardly seemed to phase it.

Again and again, the two Digidestind's digimon attacked, while Ken looked on, smiling to himself.

"He's not even using real attacks!" Cody shouted as a claw came dangerously close to the younger boy. He leaped out of the way, noting with horror the gouge in the soft earth.

Tai winced as a clod of earth- dirt really- struck his arm.

"What do you want?" he cried up at Ken.

But the cruel pre-teen didn't respond, only lashed his whip against his mount. The Dark Tyrannamon let out a sickening cry, then lashed out with his tail, knocking Tai to his knees.

In the battle, no one, least of all Tai had noticed how close they'd come to an edge. Only a few feet back was a sheer drop. Tai breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't fallen over during the attack, and stood shakily.

"Cody, Agumon, Digmon, are you ok?" he looked around franticly. Nearby, he saw the black tower shudder. Joe would have it soon, he hoped.

"I'm, alright," came Cody's voice. But-"

"LOOK OUT" the words exploded from Tai's lungs, and from the two digimon's as well. But it was too late. Again, a dark blur swept across the battle field, slamming into Digmon and Cody, sending them sprawling, right over the edge.

Someone screamed.

As Agumon launched another volley of Pepper Breath attacks, Tai scrambled for the cliff.

"Tai, I think I'm stuck." Came the small voice Cody used when he was terrified.

Peering down, Tai was relieved to see his friend, looking no worse for wear, sitting on a jutting ledge six or so feet down. Armadillomon lay nearby, the fall having sent him back into his rookie form. From somewhere close by, they could hear Joe's cries of triumph. The tower was weakening, in seconds it would fall.

"Don't worry about me," Cody was saying as Ken spoke again.

"Well, this has been lovely, but certain things at base require my…attention. See you soon, Kamiya. I'll give your regards to your sister." Tai dove headlong at the boy, despite the fact that said boy was currently about 13 feet off the ground, atop an eight ton monster. He was determined to do something, anything. He only had to stall them for a few seconds, then the Tyrannamon would be free and able to fight off Ken, and then…and then…

There was a horrible sound behind him, of grating stones, rocks crashing down, and voices screaming in terror and pain.

"_Cody."_

Tai turned his back on the retreating Emperor, lunging for the side of the cliff. Cody was clinging with one hand to a tiny nub of rock, his toes trying franticly to find a grip. Armadillomon was holding on to the child's free arm for dear life, but they were both losing their holds.

Tai reached down, leaning as far over as he dared, but he just couldn't reach.

"Hold on." Tai said, looking for anything he could use to reach. Even lowering Agumon proved to be futile.

Cody's fingers were slipping.

And suddenly Joe was there, lowering a rope with his now empty backpack at one end. Carefully, Armadillomon crawled into it, giving Cody the hand he needed to grab desperately to the lifeline. Seconds later, they were safe, far from the edge.

As Joe used his first aid kit to clean and bandage the several nasty scrapes on Cody's palms, arms and legs, the younger boy wondered where Ken had gone.

"We could track him," he suggested tentatively, wincing at the sting in one knee. But Tai shook his head. "No tracks, and I didn't see which way he went." He said bitterly, " It's back to square one, but we need to email Izzy."

* * *

In addition to providing a decent cover for the searching members, Izzy was keeping track of everything- Mimi and Sora's status( "_still waiting, although Mimi's selling some sob story about a dying baby sister so one of the couples who have tickets leaving in an hour"), _Mimi's Army's status( 47 Geckomon, Snowbotamon and other random 'mons taking down spires all along the western side of the digital world, no sign of Ken or his minions) and any info from the other searching groups. ( a few sightings of a dark ringed digimon here or there, one sighting of ' something urgent by a bunch of Zhannemon with Davis and T.K, and now the Ken spotting by Tai, Joe and Cody.

Izzy scratched his head. There was no pattern. Nothing useful. He needed more data.

* * *

T.K and Davis walked swiftly through the sand. It was harder than it sounded, but the sports the two played had helped build endurance. The same could not be said for the two digimon, mostly Veemon.

"Are ya shure we can trust 'em? Maybe thish ish a trap!" he was saying, meaning the two Zhannemon who circled far above. They'd claimed to have 'found something, hurry' and had soared off. Each time the boys and smaller digimon rested, they'd return, citing urgency.

Patamon gave his friend a hard look. "If it is, you and me will just digivolve. But I don't think it is. If they wanted to, they could carry us all off right now." the bat-pig yawned, and fluttered up to perch once more on T.K.'s hat.

T.K rolled his eyes. "Patamon's right. And they don't have the gears in them anymore. Can we pick up the pace? I've got a bad feeling."

Davis started to run. "Race ya!" he called to his partner. Veemon took the challenge but hardly seemed to move any faster.

They had spoken little so far. Davis had asked about the Gears, and T.K. had explained what he knew of them, which wasn't much. To further prove the sincerity of their newest allies, he'd told Davis about Tai and Matt saving him from Leomon, one of the Digidestind's strongest friends. He'd been taken over by not one but several gears, and had nearly killed Tai and later T.K, before they'd freed him.

It had been the Lion digimon who'd first told them about their role as Digidestined, and T.K missed him terribly. For some reason, he had never been reborn into the Digiworld.

Suddenly Davis stooped. They'd reached the top of one of the rolling sand dunes.

"What's that?" Davis asked, pointing at something a little ways off. It was small and white, partially covered with the pinkish-yellow sand.

It looked like a sweater, long since forgotten, or…

The two boys looked at their digivices, which were pinging and beeping like crazy. As one, they ran.

T.K was fast, but the years of soccer had been very kind to Davis, and he reached the shape a good 10 seconds before the blond. Veemon was huffing and puffing a few yards behind.

T.K knelt by Gatmon's side, and lifted her gently.

Her eyes blinked open, and then squeezed shut.

"Gatomon?" he whispered, but she didn't seem to hear. She was shaking weakly.

"Gatomon, it's ok. You're safe," Patamon squeaked.

The cat digimon peeked again, then started to babble, clearly terrified.

"Blue-blue-blue-blue. No-no-nono-no-no. Kari...Kari said…No! Back. Blue. Eyes, eyes! HIM! Help, help, save, blue, hurt, again. Blue eyes again."

T.K looked at his best friend's digimon, then at Davis. "Take her." he said softly.

" Me?" davis was startled. He'd sworn to help Gatomon, true, but if she was that freaked out, wouldn't she be better off with someone who she knew better? "Why?"

"Because," T.K glanced up, his blue eyes shining with unshed tears. "She's trapped in the past. Her memories. She _can't_ deal with me. Ken must have done something."

Davis took Gatomon, and she seemed to tremble a little less, and the stream of words slowed.

"It is like when she first joined us. She'd freak out over Matt and me. Something about Blue eyes…It's how Myotismon looked. She knew we were ok, but sometimes, before she was fully awake, she'd see us and panic. And now…" he bit his lip." It doesn't look good."

"We've got to fined Joe. Who knows how long she's been out here, and I don't think our first aid kit's going to be enough."

The kit in question consisted of two Band-Aids, a gauze pad and a few wipes- not exactly an EMT's bag.

"But how? I mean, Joe's pretty far from here, and the nearest TV's two sectors over. And I don't think she could handle Flamedramon's jumps- no offense or anything," he added seeing Veemon's hurt expression. "And you just said she can't look at you, so…?"

Davis tried to think of an answer, but it was Patamon who came up with it.

"I'll fly you and Gatomon to Joe's, Davis, and T.K. can get a ride with Flamedramon. Whaddaya think?"

It was the only plan they had, and Gatomon seemed to be getting weaker by the second.

"**Digiarmor Energize**!" the boy's shouted, and in a burst of orange and gold light, Pegasusmon and Flamdramon stood ready. Davis managed to clime onto the golden winged horse without jarring the semi-conscious Gatomon, and Flamdramon lifted T.K. easily.

The terrain of the digital world sped past as Davis cradled Gatomon, the way he would his baby cousin, or one of the kittens at the pet store. "_Don't worry, Gatomon." _He thought fiercely. "_We won't let him hurt you, ever again. We're going to find Kari, and make Ken wish he'd never even heard of Digimon._"

They could not arrive at the rendezvous point soon enough.

* * *

The going was slower for T.K., and the bouncing made his head ache. He couldn't forget the words Gatomon had been shrieking, or that it was the sight of him that had caused it. What had Ken done to her, to bring all her past back to the front of her mind? What did she mean by, "Kari said" and "again"? That wasn't the past. That was now. And it was bad.

A particularly jarring bounce broke T.K.'s concentration.

"Sorry," Flamedramon muttered, clearly thinking about other things.

"_Kari, where ever you are, please be ok. I Promised Tai I'd always protect you. I promised you we'd save Gatomon. And I Promise you now, I _will_ find you. No matter what."_

The group watched as Joe dressed the scratches where talons had bitten through Gatomon's thick fur, the long welt Ken's whip had left, and the scraped and torn pads of her paws from wandering in the desert.

"Is…Is she going to be ok?" Cody asked.

Joe nodded. "She needs food, water, and rest. But..., well, she's tough. She'll be ok soon." She was resting by now, having already drained an entire water bottle and downed a few of her favorite tuna snacks.

* * *

_Izzy's._

Izzy turned back to his lap top, but there was no sign of Sora or Mimi. He checked his email, but other than a single line from T.K.- _found Gatomon_- there was nothing. He paced, wishing he could help, somehow. Again he looked at the map he'd made, and again he failed to find any pattern.

He fielded a call from Cody's mother, and another from Yolie's.

He wished for anything new to alleviate the helpless boredom he faced.

The computer pinged.

"Huh," Izzy said to himself, sitting down to read the message.

It made his blood run cold, and he took back his earlier wish. He wished for anything but what he was reading.

Numb, he typed a message to his friends.

"_Come back, now. Urgent. –Izzy"_

_

* * *

_

**Well, that was exciting, wasn't it? And yes, I know, I'm Evile. I've been told, and It's proven to be very fun. I won't be stopping any time soon. Didn't I tell you the plot would thicken? Now, pop quiz: Reviews A) are awesome. B) make the world go 'round. C) are the best Christmas gift ever. D) will cause me to update in less than one month. E) all of the above. If you said E, you're smart. If you picked a- d, you're also smart. :) I hope you are all having a Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate. 'Tis the season to be jolly and all that. Tell me what you think- bits you loved, bits you didn't, bit's that made you laugh and bits that made you want to shake me by the shoulders and yell at me. Also, do you like the Sora-Mimi side plot? It's little, but it's been kinda fun doing. Review?**

**See you in time for my birthday next month,**

**~HNA**


	10. Emperor's Desire

**Author's note: Thanks so much to all my readers, and extra thanks to reviewers! Today's my birthday, and I'm giving you all a gift- the next chapter! Finally, most of Ken's plan will be revealed. GASP! This chapter isn't as cool as the others, but I hope you will like it enough to review and tell me so!**

**Disclaimer: I didn't get the rights to digimon as a gift. I got socks, chocolates and some paperbacks. So I still don't own digimon. I do own this story, although if you like it enough to want steal part of it, let me know and I might lend you part of it. **

* * *

There was a sudden blast of light, and the seven Digidestined arrived in a tangle of limbs, backpacks and digimon on the floor.

"Didn't we agree to leave out pillows?" Yolie wanted to know. No one bothered to tell her that it had been her turn to leave out the padding, instead they moaned, groaned, and tried to separate themselves without jostling either the injured Gatomon or Cody.

As soon as he was free of the pile, Joe knelt under one of the nearby desks and pulled a large first aid kit from the underside, ignoring the stares he got.

"What? I thought it might come in handy!"

He began finishing the job he'd started in the Digital world, applying anti-bacterial cream to the nasty looking cuts on Gatomon's scruff, where she'd been carried off. The water and kitty treats she'd consumed had helped the feline digimon, although she still shook, and refused to look anyone in the eyes.

"Kari said don't come," she stuttered. "Kari…said...don't."

But that was all she would say, no matter who prompted her.

The D Terminals beeped as one, blazing a message from Izzy.

"_Bad news. On my way. Stay put._

_-Izzy"_

As Cody fumbled for his device, he winced, and dropped it with a clatter.

"Cody, what happened?" Yolei demanded, concerned for her friend.

"I fell off a cliff. My arm's a little sore, but I'm fine."

Joe got up from Gatomon's side, where he'd been soothingly asking her what she meant.

"Let me see it." He sighed, adjusting his glasses.

Grimacing, the younger boy obliged, rolling up one sleeve. It clearly hurt more than he'd let on earlier.

Although only a few minutes- ten at the most, the wrist had started to swell, and was turning a brilliant shade of purple.

Joe took one look at it, and pulled from the box a cell phone.

"Izzy? It's Joe. Where are you?" he paused, listening." Ok, just up that block is my apartment- can you make a- yes, I know it's important. Can you call up and see if my brother is there? Jim's on break, he should be there. Tell him I asked him to come."

He hung up.

Everyone was staring.

"I'm not a trained doctor, but even I know that your wrist isn't 'fine.' You need a real doctor, and Jim's the only one I trust with the details of this. He knows everything, and…hey, quit staring at me."

But no one was listening. Shock had worn off, and Cody was biting his lip to keep from crying, Davis, Yolei and the digimon were crouched around Gatomon, hoping she'd return to herself again. T.K paced, Tai fumed, Matt prayed.

"_Hurry Izzy"_

Izzy hurried back down the stairs- Jim had buzzed him up, and he'd panted out the message.

" Joe needs me…for what?" the taller version of Joe asked, blinking.

"It's complicated" Izzy hedged. "But we need you at the school right away, I don't have all the details. One of our friends might be hurt- badly. That's the only explanation I can think of."

Jim nodded, thinking. " It's like three years ago, isn't it. With the monsters." His eyes widened. "That little girl! The one with the cat-angel. She's the one that went missing last night, isn't she?"

"Yes, and we need your help!" Izzy repeated, flustered and unwilling to waste time.

Jim grabbed a black bag from next to the door. " Lets go then."

The two raced down the stairs, Jim holding his keys.

"We can take Dad's car!"

Jim felt Cody's wrist, declared it to be sprained and badly bruised, but not broken.

"Now," he said as he finished wrapping the swollen joint. "What in heaven's name is going on?"

"It's a long story," Joe Sighed, but a look from Izzy shut him up. The red head continued, "And you'll hear it all, later."

The young doctor looked like he might protest, but he relented.

"Just don't get yourselves killed, ok? Call me on my cell if you need me."

And he left.

"Ok, Izzy, what is it, why did you call us back?" Tai looked like he had been about to explode.

Izzy took a deep breath, remembering the chill and the awful message he had to give. Time was running out.

"Ken…Ken emailed me." he said, bringing up the email and hiding behind the screen.

He read the email, and with each sentence, cold rage built inside Tai.

"_The four of you with the gate opening digivices, and Kamiya, are to come to sector 4, section 13 of my digital world in 45 minutes. Only the five of you and your pathetic excuses for digimon are to come.. You will bring the five 'D3s', and you will hand them over to me, or I will have no choice but to take action. If you are foolish, the consequence for your friend will be severe. Do not test me on this._

_I will be waiting._

_Do not attempt anything,_

_Emperor."_

Izzy looked up. The room was silent, except for Gatomon's mewing of, "..don't come… Kari said don't…come. Kari …said don't ..come."

Izzy looked up. The room was silent, except for Gatomon's mewing of, "..don't come… Kari said don't…come. Kari …said don't ..come."

" we've only got 20 minutes left, maybe less. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."

" It's not your fault, Iz." Tai whispered hoarsly. " But I'm going to rip that kid to shreads the second my sister is safe."

" I'm ready!" Davis said, leaping to his feet. " we don't have time to waste! "

Yolei ajusted her wire rimmed glasses. " I say we kick some emperor butt!"

" Wait," cody said urgently, tucking his injuerd wrist close to his body. " we can't just go charging in. for all we know, Kari won't even be there, and It's all a trap."

As if on cue, Gatomon opened her eyes.

" Trap." She said, louder than before. " Kari said don't come. Don't. Come."

There was a moment of silence, before everyone was talking at once.

" Trap or no, I'm not letting her get hurt."

"She's my sister!"

"I vote for the plan of just beat the crap out of Ken"( that was, to everyone's surprise, Gommamon.)

"Let's go already!"

Izzy's computer chimed with an email from Sora. "_Mimi's sob story worked, we're coming."_

"We can't let him win!"

T.K stood up. "We have to rescue Kari. She'd do the same for us, so we have to try. I don't care if it's a trap- we can all escape together if it is. But I Promised to protect her, no matter the cost."

Heads nodded in agreement, but Armadillomon frowned.

" I don't mean to be negative…but what happens if Ken get's what he wants? With those digivices, he could seal the digital world.

" Don't say that!" Yolei shrieked. All this was bad enough without thinking of future possibilities.

" It's ok." Tai said, without hesitation. "I thought about that. If it does come to that… If giving up the digivices is the only way to save Kari… then I won't come back to Earth until he's defeated. Promise."

No one quite knew what to say to that, but more than one of them silently uttered a similar promise. Ken could never be allowed free reign of the Digital world.

"Ten minutes." Izzy warned, rapidly typing. "I'm sending the coordinates to Mimi's Army, but they won't attack unless something goes wrong." I'm out of ideas." He ran a hand through his short red hair. "Anyone?"

T.K. looked at his older brother. They were nearly the same height, and with a little luck…

"I do." The younger boy said thoughtfully. To Matt, he asked, "think you can bear wearing a hat?"

* * *

**I know this was a lot shorter. The next chapter will be much, much, much longer, and that is a Promise. I hope you liked it!**

**Like I said, today is my birthday, and I would love to get a review from you- if it's two words, twenty, or two hundred, anything is loved and appreciated! It would very much make this day even more awesome. So yeah.**

**Previews will start up again for the next chapter, anyone who reviewed this one and chapter 8 will get a double helping!**

**Lots of love,**

**HNA**


	11. Worth a World

**Author's note: I've named all the chapters. Like them, Hate them, or think you could do better? Let me know! Thanks again to my lovely reviewers- my birthday was wonderful, and nine reviews in under a day was the best gift I could have asked for! Please keep it up :) I'd like to see if this story could reach 100 reviews- there are going to be four more chapters after this one, so it might happen. :) Finals are over and so are college apps, so I have more time to write!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned digimon, I wouldn't have to be applying for scholarships so I can go to college next fall, now would I?**

* * *

Davis lifted his D-3, and the computer screen flashed white. He turned, nodding to the boy next to him.

"Good luck," he said, wishing he were the one embarking now, not the tall blond.

"Thanks," his friend answered, vanishing into the glow.

Davis gulped, then looked to his four companions. "Ready?" he asked, needlessly. In unison, the others and their digimon nodded, breathing deeply.

"Digiport-" he began, but a shrill voice cut him off.

"Wait!" it cried. "Wait for me." Gatomon stood, shaking, on her hind paws, blinking wide blue eyes "I…I'm coming too." Before anyone could argue, she snapped, sounding more and more like her old self, " I'm not going to sit here and hope for the best. That's…that's never worked before. I'm her partner, her digimon. And I'm coming with you."

Tai cleared his throat, and managed a weak smile.

"OK. Let's go."

Again, Davis raised his hand to the computer screen, and they disappeared into the light.

* * *

_Earlier_

_Kari was lost. Every where she turned, she saw more and more darkness, twisting trees, deep shadows and narrow, gloomy pathways. No matter where each one seemed to lead, she always returned to the tiny, dim clearing._

"_Tai?" she shook. It was so cold. "Gatomon?"_

_Silence._

_She reached into her pocket for her digivice, pulling it out with a cry. It was small and blue, like it had been, before. She clung to it, begging it to glow. Slowly, she reached for her throat, seeking the pendant she always wore. It was cool in her fingers, thin, fragile._

_Something else was wrong._

_The glow that always accompanied her wish for light was fading_

_Something moved in the shadows, beyond her little halo._

_Rustle._

_Rustle._

_Wind forced its way through the trees and past her, strong enough to knock her to her knees._

_Kari lost her grip on the digivice, and it rolled into shadow, twisting and turning until it was a thick, golden ring. With it rolled the light she needed._

_She ran, clumsily, chasing her light. "Tai, Gatomon!" she cried out, her voice sounding distorted in the silence. "T.K? Please, is anyone there?"_

_The light winked out completely._

_In the darkness, she clung to her crest and heard a voice._

_No, not a voice, not quite._

_Music? A chime. She knew it, had heard it before. Where? _

_It seemed to sparkle in her mind._

Be brave, Little one

_It seemed to say, _

Beware, Light one.

_Louder now, it sang out_

Pathways are forming, Light Child. Past is becoming the future.

You must be brave, and choose the brightest path, with the deepest shadows.

_What path did it mean? Not the little forest ways, not anything in this dark world._

_There was a roar- inside her mind?- and the music-voice was gone._

_She was alone, lost and alone, trapped in utter darkness._

_She clung to the necklace, and tried to remember light…_

Kari woke with a gasp, fingers tangled in the cord of the imitation crest. Already, the dream was fading, leaving her only with the image of darkness, and an idea of danger and darkness to come. The cell was bright, not with the soft blue lights of the night before, but actual sunlight, pouring into the hall just beyond her cell door.

She peered out, but could see no one- not a single digimon, not even a guard.

She put her head in her hands, trying to think.

"I've got to get out of here," she muttered. "Before they come. Even if they got Gatomon's message…" she shook her head, almost laughing at herself. "_They'd still come. I'd have, and they will. That's what he's counting on, and that's exactly what's going to happen, and there isn't anything I can do to stop it. It's hopeless."_ Even as she thought the words, 'it's hopeless', something inside her snapped back, _"no. No, it's not. It isn't going to be like last time. You're going to get out of this, somehow. Just think, Kari. Think!"_

She still had the metal feather, maybe she could use it to cut one of the bars from the door, or something.

She reaching into her pocket for the feather, but withdrew her hand quickly as she heard footsteps.

Kari glared as Ken came into view, Wormmon and two Gotsumon at his heels.

"Your friends are on their way." he said, smirking. "Or at least, they will be shortly. So predictable. Soon, I'll have everything I need to rule this world."

Pressing her lips together firmly, willing her knees not to shake, Kari shook her head. "We'll beat you." She said hotly. "You haven't seen anything yet."

Ken laughed, and snapped his fingers. "I doubt that." He turned his back, calling

"Bring her, it's time for a reunion," to the Gotsumon.

"_This is all just too easy_," he thought, grinning wildly. "_I was hoping for more of a fight. But they wouldn't have been much of a match for me anyway_."

* * *

The five Digidestined landed in front of the television, this time a perfect landing.

Cody looked around, taking in everything he could. His good hand rested on Armadillomon's back.

The valley that stretched before them was bleak- no dunes, rocks, or trees to hide behind, only the two sloping hills on either side, and the smaller one that lay at the other end. There were a few scrubby trees on that far hill, but it still wouldn't be much cover for anyone walking down that slope.

Yolei found herself glancing at the tops of the hills, back and forth. Somewhere on the other sides, just out of sight, were groups of Mimi's army, waiting for the signal.

"S_o many of our friends might get hurt today." _She thought, making sure her helmet was on snuggly. "_If only we'd done more."_

The digimon noted the worst of the surroundings- not one, two or even three but six control spires lined the valley floor, and a seventh stood at the base of the low hill. Dozens of dark ring clad digimon waited, and in the bright afternoon sun, everyone could see the two human figures, waiting near the seventh spire.

"Remember the plan," Tai hissed to his friends, his voice low. Agumon nodded, glaring at the spires.

"I don't like this. It feels like a trap." He said softly.

"I agree!" Hawkmon added, re-adjusting his feathered headband.

"Should we digivolve?" Veemon asked, eyeing the towers and sheer number of digimon slaves.

Davis clutched his Digivice tightly, but Cody stopped him. "We don't want them to attack us, yet. If a fight breaks out, we'll digivolve. But if we start the fight, Ken might…"

Davis scowled, but nodded. "Come on." He said, taking the first steps toward their captive friend.

As they got closer, the number of ringed digimon grew larger, watching the Digidestined with red, angry eyes. High above, an Airdramon circled.

Suddenly Ken spoke.

"Stop where you are." He walked forwards, his cloak flapping in the soft breeze. Behind him, Kari was bound to the spire with thick ropes." Don't come any closer."

Cautiously, Tai stopped, and motioned for the others to stand behind him. He saw over Ken's shoulder, a flash of yellow.

"_At least that much is working." _He let out the breath he'd been holding.

Ken stood about half way between them and Kari, an ornate box in one hand, his Digivice, gleaming black, in the other.

"I'm_ so_ glad you made it." The boy sneered. "Right on time. Now, I believe you know what it is I want, or shall I spell it out for you?"

Tai narrowed his eyes." Let my sister go, now."

Ken shook his head slowly. "That sounds like a threat. I don't _like_ being threatened, understood?" he raised on hand, the one holding the Digivice, and the Airdramon, high above, turned to circle above Kari. "Now, let's try that again. Give me your digivices, one at a time, and don't try anything stupid."

Gatomon extended her claws, hackles raised, but with so many hostile digimon, she didn't dare attack her one-time captor.

Tai pulled Kari's pink Digivice from his pocket, gripping it so tightly, he thought it might crack.

Another flash of yellow caught his vision, but he kept his eyes on Ken. He couldn't risk the plan failing. Not now.

He took one step forward, trying to stall, when Davis shouted a warning.

"Wait! How do we know it's really Kari?"

Tai turned around, confused.

"Last time he tried something like this, it was just Bakamon." He explained, before addressing Ken directly. "So how do we know it's really Kari?" he squared his shoulders, hoping that he looked tough and determined, and _not_ scared to death.

Ken shrugged. "Ask her. I assume you have some kind of trust password system, after last time. You'd be stupid not to."

For the first time since her imprisonment, Kari felt a spark of what could only be hope. This was her chance._" If they think it's just a trick, they'll leave. They'll be safe, and so will the digital world. If he gets the Digivices, we'll be doomed. He'll take over, and no one will be able to stop him. Our friends won't be able to digivolve, and we'll be trapped in our world unless a portal decides to open and one of the older Digidestined is around. This place will be destroyed in a week, less. And it'll be because they chose me over the world. I'm not worth this whole world. I ...I can't force them to make that choice. I won't."_

"Kari!" her brother called. She met his eyes, willing him to go away, to leave her and protect the digital world.

The wheels in Tai's mind turned. He couldn't use anything that had happened since the Digimon emperor's reign- Ken had too many spies, and probably cameras. He'd tracked her down in the real world too, so who knew what he knew about their 'real lives'. That left the first time Kari'd been in the Digiworld. Nothing obvious- Ken wasn't stupid. He'd have known this would happen. It'd need to be a question he'd never have been able to guess the answer too. It came in a flash of inspiration, like the third flash of yellow, now almost behind the spire._ "He needs more time!"_

"Kari," he called. "When you were sick in the digital world, who did I trust to get medicine for you, and who stayed with you the whole time?"

He could only hope she remembered- she'd been half delirious with fever, true, but if she hesitated, that alone would be proof, of a sort. Wouldn't it?

Kari bit her lip. All she had to do was say that he'd been with her, that someone else, anyone else, had gone for the medicine. "_Just say it, and they'll be safe. Gatomon will be safe. Everyone will be ok._" She looked at her friends, so tense and worried. Gatomon looked better, her eyes were clearer, brighter. "_Wait,"_ she thought. Something was wrong._ "That's not T.K." _she frowned_. "But if Matt's here, where's T.K?"_

It hit her like a train. They had a plan. They had a trick, a trap of their own.

She opened her mouth. Plan or no, she would not let her friend sacrifice a world for her. she couldn't live with that.

Ken turned suddenly to face her, pitching his voice low. "Don't even think about it." He said, moving closer. "If you lie, and they start to leave, I guarantee that you will regret it. I don't need to hurt them, or you. I don't need to, but I will if this doesn't go smoothly. Starting with your little cat. Understand?"

Eyes wide, she nodded.

Ken grinned coldly, then turned back to the other Digidestined.

Kari mumbled something, and at a glare from ken, repeated herself.

"You. You and Izzy went for medicine, and T.K and Sora stayed behind." Each word hurt, a blow to the digital world. Even if there was a plan, what good would it do against so many- an army- of Ken's slaves?

"_I'm just so helpless. If only I'd…I should have…" _the fake crest around her neck felt heavy.

The younger three Digidestined looked at Tai for confirmation, and he nodded minutely.

Ken looked pleased. "Good. Now that you know it's her, we can get down to business." He held up the box. "One at a time, you will put your Digivices in here. Once I have them, she'll be released and I will open a portal for you. You will never bother me or my world again."

Davis clenched his fists at that. _"His world. Who does he think he is?" _ He thought angrily.

Cody winced as a spasm of pain shot through his wrist. "_We're running out of time."_ He thought, trying to keep his eyes from staring at the hill where T.K. waited. "_We can't stall forever. What happens if Ken gets sick of waiting?" _

Yolei gnashed her teeth. This whole mess was almost over. They needed a few more minutes. _"Just a few. Then Kari'll be out of danger, and we can charge this jerk. I can't believe I thought he was cute!"_

Ken reached to his belt and put his own Digivice inside a pouch. Lifting his now empty hand, he let the smile fall away. "Now, or else my Airdramon attacks. I'll count to three."

Before he could begin his count, Tai walked forward, praying that everything would go according to plan, and dropped Kari's Digivice into the box. It lay on the dull black surface, almost glowing pink and silver in the sunlight.

As it clattered on the bottom, Kari fought back sobs. It was only a matter of time now.

She had failed, and the digital world would fall. Not like last time, but just as bad.

Yolie stepped forward.

* * *

**And I'll just end it there. That's a good stopping point, right? *ducks for cover***

**Now, take a few seconds to review. You don't even need an account! That said, what did you think? Am I too cruel? Did I get Ken's voice right? Are the chapter titles really, really stupid? Do you want the next chapter soon? The next chapter(Light's Ransom) will be up in the next four weeks- probably early March. But it should be a lot longer, something like twice, three times this. And the previews will be out in half that! So you should all review :) **

** I'm going to say this now- I'm a huge fan of happy endings, and refuse to write a total downer. Keep that in mind, if it helps.**

**Thanks again for reading! Tell your friends.**

**~HNA**


	12. Light's Ransom

**Author's note: Oh, boy! I've been looking forward to this chapter( and your reactions!) since I started this story. Well, this chapter and the next ones. These images are what gave me the whole idea of the story- it's all been for these chapters. That should scare you. I hope you are enthralled! It's not as long as I'd hoped, fair warning, because I had the flu and then hurt my leg( that was two days ago and I'm still on crutches. Pity me.), so writing wasn't quite my top priority.**

**Disclaimer: we've been over this, I don't own digimon. Probably a good thing, considering what I'm about to do…( don't question! Just read, and question/freak out later! in reviews!)**

* * *

T.K. landed hard on his feet, and stumbled forward, wheeling to keep his balance. Gabumon appeared a few seconds later, knocking the boy flat and landing on him.

"Oof, Gabumon, get off." T.K. winced, getting to his feet.

"Sorry, T.K." the digimon apologized, looking at his furry paws.

Looking around, T.K. saw the area Izzy's map feature had shown of the digital world, sector four, section 14. scrubby trees climbed a low hill, in front of two slightly higher mounds of stone and dirt, like solid sand dunes, or the foothills of non-existent peaks.

On either side of the hills, he knew, lay Mimi's Army. The blond grimaced- to call it an army was optimistic, far more than he was, even on a good day. Rather, surrounding the three sided valley where Ken, Kari, and Ken's own army of followers waited, in the sparse forest, about forty-odd Geckomon and Otomomon lurked. With them were a handful of the tiny Snowbotamon that had insisted on helping, despite the danger.

Looking west, T.K. thought he could see tiny dots of darkness against the bright sun, but he knew it was his eyes playing tricks on him. The Zhannemon from File Island/Peninsula were on their way, but it would be several minutes before they even cleared the horizon. With luck, they'd arrive in time for T.K.'s plan, but even if they did, the images Izzy had gotten of section 13 had showed Ken's own army- one much larger than anything the Digidestined could pull together in 20 minutes.

T.K checked his watch- time was up, they others would be there by now. He had to get moving, and now.

"_I'm coming, Kari. I promised I would. I'm coming." _He thought as he and Gabumon crept up the side of the hill, ducking into the branches of the trees when the circling Airdramon flew overhead.

"Ouch." He hissed as a sharp branch cut his cheek when he scrambled into a particularly evil looking tree for cover.

Staying hidden was almost as important as speed.

In seconds, he had reached the top of the hill. Staying low, almost crawling, he peered over and down into the valley below.

In the midst of dozens- a hundred at the least- of dark-ring clad digimon slaves, T.K. spotted his friends, walking closer, a good hundred yards- maybe more, he wasn't great at calculating distances- away from the base of the hill and the spire. There were seven, in all, but the nearest one seemed taller, it was at least as tall as the surrounding valley walls, and they were not small in the least.

From this vantage point, he could not make out what was in front of the spire, but the ropes that wound around it and the thick knots visible gave T.K. a pretty good Idea- Kari.

"Stop where you are," came Ken's familiar voice. "Don't come any closer."

T.K took the opportunity to crawl over the lip of the foothill, and down into another bush. He waited a moment, daring to lean out to see Ken, eyes firmly fixed on the rescue team.

Tai said something, but the wing caught the words, and T.K. missed them. Ken replied- again, T.K. missed what was said, but he did not miss Ken's gesture. The other boy lifted one hand, and the still circling Airdramon moved through the sky like a bullet. The monster flew slowly, a much smaller circle now, directly above Kari's spire.

"_No_," T.K. thought. "_This isn't the plan, we can't afford to antagonize him!"_

Desperately, he started inching his way down the rocky slope. Ducking into a thankfully _less _prickly bush/tree, he allowed himself a moment's rest, as the 'negotiations' continued.

From this angle, he could see Kari- just barely. She strained at her bonds, arms pinned to her sides.

He was almost there.

Suddenly he turned- where was Gabumon? He didn't dare call out to the digimon, but he couldn't help wondering- what if Ken had scouts?

As he started down again- nearly there!- he spotted the striped creature, panting higher up on the hill.

He waved for Gabumon to hurry, then continued along the thin pathway, trying to stay low. Just as he reached the base of the hill, he heard Davis shout.

"Wait! How do we know it's really Kari?" he called.

In that moment, Ken glanced over his shoulder, but T.K. quickly pressed himself against the bulk of the spire, Thankful for the first and last time in his life that the towers were so large.

"Last time he tried something like this, it was just Bakamon." Davis continued.

The Idea sent a jolt through T.K. what if it really was a trick? It couldn't be. It just couldn't.

"_Do I wait for an answer?" _he thought, running a hand through his hair,_ "or do I just start on these ropes, and risk everything being a trap?"_

He paused as Ken spoke, mocking. "Ask her. I assume you have some kind of trust password system, after last time. You'd be stupid not to."

T.K dared to peek around the spire- it wasn't square at the base, like the others- this one was thinner. Ken still had his back to Kari, and although the girl had her eyes closed, T.K. could see dried tear tracks glistening on one cheek. Bakemon didn't cry. this was not a trap, or at least, was not a trap that would make his plan useless.

"_Nice job stalling, Davis," _T.K. thought with a small smile. He'd have to tell his friend when this was over. Davis liked to hide it, but he seemed a bit unsure of leading, especially when going up against Ken, and all but did a dance whenever anyone complimented him.

Tai posed the question- something no one would have been able to guess, doubly so for anyone who knew Tai. After all, who would think that such a protective big brother would let anyone else watch over his sister? But he had. Again, and again, until this time, when they'd let him down. _"Snap out of it!"_ T.K. commanded himself. "_Get to work."_

He didn't need to wait for an answer, and the determined boy started clawing at the knot. The cord or rope Ken had used wasn't very thick, now that he saw it, but there was an awful lot of it, layered. The knot was tight and confusing, but at last a section of it started to give way. T.K let out the breath he'd been holding, just in time to hear Ken's voice, low and close. He nearly cursed, he'd been so caught up with the knot, he hadn't heard the self proclaimed emperor approach.

"If you lie, and they start to leave, I guarantee that you will regret it. I don't need to hurt them, or you. I don't need to, but I will if this doesn't go smoothly. Starting with your little cat. Understand?" his voice was cold, calculating. He knew exactly what he was doing.

T.K. resisted the urge to come flying from his hiding place, fists blazing. The anger he felt startled him, which made it easier to control- he wasn't thinking straight. The plan.

Again , he started on the knot, but the second segment was to small and tight for his fingers to pull loose. He bent down, searching for a tool- a stone, something!

Kari's voice was soft as she whispered a reply, the true answer to the question.

It sounded like her heart was breaking.

T.K. seized at a sharp bit of rock- shale, maybe? Whatever it was, it had a point, and looked sharp. He began sawing at the rope, craning his neck to watch the action unfold. He watched as Tai handed Kari's Digivice to Ken. The second knot gave out.

Kari tensed as the ropes fell away, leaving only one layer left at her arms. She squirmed, trying to see around the side of the spire. T.K. mirrored her, leaning out to try to reassure her. She couldn't lean far enough, and T.K realized with a jolt that Yolei was now before Ken. He went back to sawing. Time was running out.

Yolei's Digivice, glimmering scarlet in the sun, dropped with a dull clatter into Ken's box.

Gabumon reached the spire, and began attacking the ropes with his sharp claws. At long last, they dropped, severed entirely. Kari twisted her body awkwardly around, taking her eyes off of Cody, and staring at her rescuer.

"_You came_." She mouthed. T.K. nodded and gave a ha;f smile, half shrug, as if to say, '_was there ever any doubt_?'

Cody reached into his tunic pocket with his good hand, cradling the other close to his chest. Every tiny stumble caused pain to shoot through it, and as he gently placed his yellow device in the box, he found himself glaring defiantly up at Ken, wondering if Jim had been wrong about the wrist not being broken.

Ken glared back, and Cody dropped his gaze. Kari wasn't free yet, and he couldn't risk anyone getting hurt.

Kari reached out with one hand, grabbing T.K.'s, pressing a small metal feather into his palm. As he knelt to cut through the cords at her ankles, he saw the problem. They weren't ropes, they were coils of wire- metal. Even digimon claws would be hard pressed to cut through them. He started cutting with the feather- but it was small and slow to work with. Kari was trying to kneel as well, but the wire prevented more than a mild crouch.

She watched as Matt, wearing a vest that looked identical to T.K.'s, and the white bucket hat that was his younger brother's trademark, put a green Digivice in the black box with the others, his eyes never leaving the ground.

Davis, careful to not let his eyes stray to T.K.'s progress, walked slowly forward. Kari wasn't free yet, she was supposed to be out of here! Then he'd have Flamedramon attack ken's minions, Mimi's army would fall in, and the other Digidestined would rush Ken, and get the digivices back. That was the plan- simple, easy and not going to happen.

"Hurry up," Ken ordered, brandishing his box. "You're trying my patients, and _trust_ me, you don't want to do that."

The goggle-headed boy gulped, then continued, walking faster. He glanced at the spire- T.K was still sawing at the cord or whatever it was that bound Kari's feet. Davis pressed a hand to his head.

"_Think, think! Time's almost up!"_ He stood, hand outstretched, palm down, Digivice in hand. Now what- if he handed it over, Ken would win… and he'd turn around and see the deception, and probably order an attack. But if he didn't, Ken would still turn, still see the deception, still attack, still hurt his friends. His eyes caught on Kari, pulling with one hand on the bindings, clutching at her necklace with the other, on T.K., sawing and pulling and struggling to free Kari, at Gabumon, attempting the same.

"Drop it, _Davis_," sneered Ken. "Or your little friend over there gets it." Blue eyes widened as he noticed Davis' staring, his trembling arm. As he turned to see what was so interesting, Davis acted, purely on instinct.

He pulled back his other arm, and sent a punch at the other boy's face.

No one was more surprised than Davis when the blow connected, and Ken tripped backwards on the uneven soil. Davis dove at him, knocking both boys to the ground in a heap.

As the red-eyed slave digimon broke formation to attack, Mimi's army surged down the hill in full force- someone had called in the Numamon, who quickly over ran and immobilized an entire squad of slave digimon, attacking the rings with everything they had. The tiny white Snowbotamon jumped in and out of the fight, tripping up the larger digimon, distracting them to the best of their abilities. overhead, three shinning Zhannemon flew, sending showers of feathers at the smaller six towers, taking one down instantly. the others proved to be more difficult, as Flymon took to the sky, defending the spires and swarming the metal winged digimon

Everywhere the Digidestined looked, battle raged.

Chaos took over the small area, as attacks flew everywhere. Kari screamed as a Gotusmon's rock throw hit Gatomon, knocking her friend into Armadillomon.

The little digimon shook her head, and then jumped back into the fray, scratching and biting at every dark ring she saw, making her way across the battle field, trying to reach her partner.

In the desperate attack, Davis's Digivice had fallen to the ground, and Veemon raced to defend it from an oncoming Bakemon, ghostly arms outstretched.

As T.K. continued to cut at the coils, the feather snapped in two, at last worn. It turned to dust in his fingers. Kari looked down in horror- the bindings were looser, but not enough to get free. She tugged violently, but here was no give. T.K. took up the shale, but it was no use. He continued digging at the knot, praying for it to loosen.

In the chaos, the Digidstined not caught in the turmoil ran for Kari and the spire- she was more important than the digivices that had been grabbed up and shoved into the box by several of Ken's lackys. But they were cut off at every turn by a tangle of energy blasts, rocks, limbs and fighting digimon.

Davis fought to keep Ken pinned, but the other boy was too strong. He threw Davis off of him, his cloak torn and pants stained with dirt and dust. His sunglasses had been ripped off in the struggle, and there was nothing to hide the absolute fury in his eyes. Without so much as bothering to turn, he raised one hand and snapped his fingers, once, twice.

At the first snap, dark rings seemed to appear from the sky itself, zooming to latch onto digimon, then being broken off again by their friends in an endless dance.

At the second, the swooping, soaring Airdramon stopped its movement to hover above the battle, directly in front of the tallest spire.

Where Kari still struggled.

Where the final coil held fast.

Kari stopped pulling, T.K. grabbed her hand and tried in vain to pull her around, but she was frozen in place, petrified.

As the digimon opened its mouth, she turned her head, straining outward with everything she had, pushing against the spire with all her might.

Light pulsed, growing brighter and brighter as the digimon prepared to attack.

Tai ran, leaping over numamon and enslaved Geckomon, but he'd been driven back in the fight… he was too far away.

Someone screamed, Kari didn't know who. She shut against the blinding light as the Airdramon released the ball of energy.

In the brightness of her closed eyelids, Kari remembered the words from her dream- only for a heartbeat. " _Pathways are forming, Light Child. Past is becoming the future. Past is becoming the future..."_

Someone squeezed her hand, then released just as something slammed into her, throwing her against the spire. Pain blossomed in her chest and arms…then there was nothing at all. No pain, no light, no sound…nothing.

All was Darkness.

* * *

**And thus concludes this chapter. Really, it was going to be longer, but this was a nice end point, and I figured you'd rather have this now than a longer chapter that would take three more weeks, plus I'm jumping on a plane in the morning and had to pack, so… did you like it? Hate it? Hate me?( if you say yes to all three, it means I'm doing my job right!)**

**Did I mention earlier( I don't think I did) I'm not bringing the dead back? Well, I'm saying it now. No more magical Deus ex machina revivals. Nope, none. Live in fear. I really, truly am that evile. *smirks***

**Also, what with school work and stuff, I'm not really sure when I'll update. Your reviews(even 'how dare you, IKILLYOU' reviews) will help me decide if I should post the next chapter( History Repeats) sooner or later. the law of previews still applies.**

**Thanks for reading! **

**Hedgi N. Aisling**

**Ps- anyone in the Phoenix area should come to the Scottish Highland Games this weekend and drop by the Clan Rose tent.**


	13. History Repeats

**Author's note: hey. Sorry I took so long. I didn't mean to make you all have to wait so long. Now, for the laundry list of why this took so long: I was traveling, I got sick, my depressing half of the hypomanic cycle took over, I had a huge half-my-grade project and pretty much useless partner, I got in a fight with my dad, suspense is awesome. also, ff wouldn't let me update- thanks CRESTOFLIGHT3 for helping me get this up. You rock . Anyway, you don't care about this, you just want to know what comes next!**

**Disclaimer:**

**Readers:* death glare* really? You have to do this? **_**No**_**. we get it, ok? You don't own digimon. Now. Tell. US. WHO. DIED!**

**HNA: ok! Ok! Don't kill me!**

**(also, the first snippets are all simultaneous.)**

Tai ran. He'd seen Ken's signal, seen the giant flying digimon open its mouth. He had to stop it, had to protect her. that was what big brothers did, they protected. around him, Mimi's army fought, a cacophony of attacks blasting dark rings.

He was too far away! He tripped, unable to look away from his sister and the light that was growing in brightness. "KARI!" he screamed, choking on dust. "**_KARI!" _**the light exploded, brighter than the sun. He'd failed her, he'd failed his baby sister.

"**_Kari, NO_****!"**

* * *

Matt fought, T.K's hat lost in the battle. A red-eyed Gotsumon, new dark ring around one leg, dove at his face, pebbled finger's out stretched. Then, it stopped, as sudden light burst from the circling Airdramon. He saw, too late, where the attack was heading. In the fraction of a second that seemed to last forever, before the beam struck, he saw his brother, saw Kari. Why were they still there? "NO! Run!" but his words were drowned out as the attack struck, shaking the ground, filling the world with light.

* * *

Patamon flew, tiny wings beating as fast as they could, soaring to his partner's side. A Zhannemon feather zoomed past, barely missing the tiny digimon's left ear/wing. As Patamon veered away to avoid more missiles, he faltered. T.K was still by the spire, Kari was still bound to it. _"oh bad, oh bad, oh bad bad bad!" _he thought flying faster- he was so tired. Light brightened at the edge of his vision, and Patamon looked for the source- it couldn't be a digivolution, could it-? His wings gave out, and the little batpig fluttered helplessly to the ground, still seeing the bright light- coming from Airdramon. "T.K! Look out!" he squeaked. The burst of energy struck, leaving spots of brightness in the small digimon's vision, which was already clouding with tears.

* * *

Gatomon shook her head, clearing it from the blow she'd just taken. Claws outstretched, she launched herself at an attacking digimon, not even registering what it was, only the ring around its neck. She tore into it, freeing the digimon in seconds. Through wide cat eyes, she saw Ken, struggling with Davis. Not far from them, she knew, although her view was blocked by a tangle of digimon, was the pillar where T.K was freeing Kari.

She fought her way through the blockade of warriors, desperate to find her friend, be with her, protect her and be protected. As she broke though, she heard fingers snap.

It sounded like a cracking whip.

Again.

Dark rings flew through the air, but she did not see them. She only saw the Airdramon, hovering, opening its mouth.

She screamed, wordlessly, running on all four paws.

"_Again, It's happening Again, oh, please, no, no, no!"_

There was an explosion of white hot light.

* * *

A force slammed into Kari as she struggled to step free from the tangled cables. She screamed, she heard her name. It was so bright. Then there was darkness, and sharp pain in her head, her chest, her arms.

It was not a blast of energy, not an attack that would kill her. It was not an explosion of heat or fire that smashed into her, pinning her against the dark tower.

It was something else, pushed by the beam of power, the attack, the blast.

It was a human. A friend. A body.

As Kari's legs gave out and she hit the ground, falling to one side with a thud, she found herself clutching desperately at her savior.

T.K. lay in her arms, eyes closed. Kari's heart skipped a beat.

_" No, no, no, not Again.." S_he laid one hand, stinging from the impact, on his chest. He wasn't breathing.

"T.K.!" the name burst from the young Digidestined's lips as she half realized what had happened. What was happening. What would happen now. Her friend, her best friend, was...

History had repeated, It had happened Again, just like Before. Worse than Before, and there was nothing she could do.

Tears flowed down Kari's cheeks in an instant flood. T.K. was gone. They were out numbered, out matched. Ken had been right, all along. He would rule the digital world.

_" No! T.K.'s ok, he's gonna be fine, he has to be! everything... everything's going to work out. Please, no..."_

_She saw a burst of light, overlapping a burst of not-light, pure dark energy, fluttering. Both came at her, frozen and afraid. Everyone was too far away._

_Both attacks struck at once, the shimmering layers of where and when fused into one seamless, terrible moment. Power striking at her, but not hitting her._

_Wizardmon fell to the ground, the tiled roof top, his hat already digital dust. T.K. slumped in her arms, sinking to the dust and stone floor of the valley, his own off white hat gone, lost._

_The tears were the same, fearful, confused, angry and most of all the same hot sorrow that flooded her whole being._

"_All my fault. Everything happened Again, and It's all my fault."_

Kari wailed, wordlessly, no longer looking, not able to look at anything but the sky and her own eyelids.

The rest of the world was still, the battle paused, even the dark ringed digimon slowing to savor a victory at last. Horror spread like fire through the faces of the Digidestined and Mimi's Army.

And then the moment passed. Matt dove headlong, fingers curled into ugly claws, his voice ragged.

"Monster! You killed him! You killed my baby brother!" he screeched, lurching after Ken, who ducked and dodged, not understanding- he hadn't _killed_ anyone, just reset the data. Blondie would have to create a new character, It was a game over, nothing more.

With Matt's cry, the battle began anew, faster and more violent than before, as rings sped across the field and more digimon poured over the lip of the hill. The digimon half-knew that the battle was lost, but they fought on. Mimi's voice echoed in their hearts, a battle cry chanted, shouted, "Don't quit/ Stop him/ Don't quit/ Stop him!".

The Bakemon seized Davis's Digivice, knocking the furious and stunned Veemon to one side. Davis lifted his partner up without words. Tears streaked his dirt covered face. He paused, wanting to stay frozen, to think an apology at T.K's spirit.

_"If I'd stalled more, if I hadn't been staring.."_ A rock flew at his face, and again his mind was in battle

Cody's face was blank, his eyes vacant. The only emotion he showed was a constant quiver in his lower lip, and a steady stream of tears rolling down his nine-year-old cheeks. A long tree branch that a half dozen Snowbotamon had brought him kept the area around him and Armadillomon clear. Instinct had taken over, hundreds of Kendo lessons at last finding a use- battle and think- feel- all at once.

_" I don't care what grandfather says. This is my fault. If it hadn't been for me, none of this would have happened."_

Yolei had thrown herself into the fray, all thoughts of non-violences and peace gone. She hammered with a fist full of Zhannemon feathers at any ring she saw, any sign of emperor's control. Rage consumed her.

"H_ow could he do this. How dare he do this. He'll pay for this." _normally the intensity of the hatred would have shocked her. for all her harsh words, she didn't think of herself as someone who _hated_. But not today. Not now.

Patamon burst free from the crowd, flying with new energy to his partner's side.

"Teeekaay?" He whimpered softly, his small voice washed out by the sounds of battle. But even if the world had been silent, the little digimon knew, T.K. could not hear him. and so he cried, leaning into his best friend's hand.

Gatomon sat back, staring at her paws, replaying the past and present together, like still clung to the words Wizardmon had spoken to her, remembered them when things were hardest, when everything went wrong.

_" I am glad to have met you."_

_"I have no regrets."_

_"You are my friend"_

It was too much, It was all to much. Wizardmon had no regrets, but Gatomon did. And Kari did.

T.K and Wizardmon were not coming back. They were gone, the digidestined and digimon of Light had witnessed the loss, been the cause of the loss, could have changed it, _would_ have changed it.

And so as the battle raged, as 'mon fought 'mon and human child fought human children, the three mourned and keened aloud.

And then.

Kari's wail, alone at first but joined in by the smaller digimon, the weakened digimon, the digimon unable to rage and win, ended in a gasp.

And then.

Someone kicked over a stone that had rolled over a small pink device.

And then.

Pink light began to glow, shining like an aura or halo, encircling Kari's digivice, Gatomon, and the tear stained, hollow girl kneeling at the base of a control spire.

The light was brighter than anything most of the digimon had ever seen, brighter than the sun, than the Airdramon's blast, than the world.

There was music. Soft, echoing, without words. Chiming, sparkling music.

And then…

**Gatomon, digivolve to…Angewomon**

This time, everything truly stopped. This time, there was no frantic stumbling, no hushed whispers or small skirmishes far up the hill sides.

The beautiful angel digimon flew, above the battle, glowing with pure light and glory.

Ken's eyes widened, staring at the digivolution that had happened, that shouldn't have happened. His spires…the dark digivice…none of it was working.

"**Celestial Arrow!"** came her voice, not crystalline or sweet, but booming, unstoppable, powerful. Tears streaked her face, seeping down from under her gleaming visor.

An arrow of light fitted itself to her hand's bow, striking its target with the speed of lightening. It struck the nearest Control Spire, embedding halfway up the shaft of light.

The tower didn't fall.

The tower did not turn to dust or rubble.

It simply vanished.

Light shone, coming off the digimon in visible waves as she sent arrows at each of the remaining spires.

No Digimon dared stop her.

Last to go was the tallest spire, the final spire, where Kari continued to kneel and rock and cradle her limp friend. The coils that bound her feet lay, useless, on the ground surrounding her.

Angewomon turned her bow, a final arrow poised. Ready to fire.

If possible, the world went even stiller. No one, least of all Ken, dared to so much as breathe.

The arrow was trained on his own heart.

* * *

**Ok, I know, that was short. And I'm sorry it was so short. Think of it as lava cake. Small, but intense and better in small doses.. So, what did you think? What did you hate? good? bad? i-want-to-kill-you-evil-writer-person? Review, please? Pleeeease? This was really, really hard to write, so was it worth it?**

**I've got spring break next week, so maybe, if everyone who put this on their alerts list and/or favorites list reviews, I'll update by the 8th. And by review, I mean a review that's more than two words. stream of conscious works! (you've got till the 5th to review for it to count :) )**

**Thanks for reading- only two more chapters!**

**~HNA**


	14. Crowning Moment of Heartwarming

**Author's note: I can see you all…uh, had ****strong ****feelings about that last chapter. *grins happily* Good! I'm always glad to leave people stunned and/or draw out emotions through my work. It was a labor of love, the core of the idea that started me on this whole crazy adventure of a story. I'm so glad it got your attention. We're almost done- this chapter and then one more- I'm going to miss writing it. I hope you all like this. I know it's shortish- but again, Lava Cake! : ). really though, I do hope it lives up to your expectations.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own digimon( or, for that matter, a working pen), but I own this story. It is mine( although if you love it that much, you can put it in your personal canon, I don't mind.)**

**And now, without any more hesitation, I present __*****drumroll*** … Chapter Thirteen of _**A Captive Light!**_

* * *

Ken reached for his dark Digivice, never taking his eyes off of the digimon, floating ten feet above, arrow pointing directly at him.

She spoke again, softer this time, but no less harsh. From his angle, Ken could see blue eyes half hidden under a lilac visor and dark metal helm.

"You, Ken Ichijouji, are nothing short of a monster. You have destroyed lives. You have harmed innocents. You have hurt my friends, my… my_ family_." She was still crying, but apart from the way she'd choked on the last few words, she gave no hint of anything but righteous fury.

While the words were directed at Ken, everyone listened, hearts in throats. Everyone, that is, except Patamon, whose wails had grown weak, and Kari, who continued to cling to T.K.'s hand and rock, pleading silently for everything to not be real.

Ken said nothing. _"Why does it matter, he'll have to re-spawn somewhere and that's that. If they'd played by the rules, no tricks, none of this would have happened. It's not my fault they disregarded my warnings. It's all a game anyway. Why are they so emotional about a simple game over." _He glared up at the angel digimon.

Angewomon drew back her arrow, gleaming and shining with holy light, adjusted her bow, and let it fly.

"**Celestial Arrow**!"

No one tried to stop her.

No one would have been able to, even if they had wanted to.

Ken flinched as the arrow struck- embedding in the ground mere inches from his feet.

The spell of shock shattered almost audibly, with the force of the missile of light. Davis was the first to react, snatching up his Digivice from where one of Ken's slaves had dropped it. Yolei and Cody scrambled on the ground near the upturned box, seizing their own devices.

The voices, horse but strong, cried out in unison, "**Digi-Armor Energize!"**

Light swirled around the three weary rookies, standing as tall as they could.

**Veemon, Armor-Digivolve to…. Flamedramon!**

**Armadillomon, Armor-Digivolve to… Digmon!**

**Hawkmon , Armor-Digivolve to…Halsemon!**

The now far more powerful digimon advanced on what was left of Ken's army, a handful of digimon with eyes that still glowed a deep, brilliant shade of scarlet.

Ken whirled around, searching now or an escape. He saw none. The Spires were gone, that left only Airdramon, one of the few Digimon slaves whose ring was keyed directly to Ken's Digivice, rather than the tall( but easily destroyed) Control Spires. He lifted his black Digivice, but before he could call the serpentine digimon to come to his rescue, Angewomon spread her arms wide.

"**Heaven's Charm!" **she cried, her voice again not betraying the silver tears that filled half hidden eyes.

The valley- or what was left of it- was covered with a rainbow dome of lights, shifting in color, lights that froze the Airdramon in mid swoop. Ken gulped, his face still twisted in a sneer.

Before any of the Digidestined or digimon could reach him, Angewomon signaled for them to stop.

"No," she said, still hovering above everything, a floating judge, declaring her ruling. "No. This is not what we are meant for." She turned her eyes back to Ken, glaring, tears streaking her beautiful face.

"Go. Leave this place, this world, in peace. Leave the digimon alone. Leave my family _alone_." There was a quaver in her voice, undisguised sorrow, no longer hidden behind a calm facade. "Go, before I change my mind and sink to- to _your_ level, human. You do not deserve this, will _never_ deserve this. But I will _not_ become a monster because of _you_. You are not worthy of that."

The rainbow of shifting, mesmerizing lights, vanished. Airdramon flew to his master's side, and Ken dove onto his back, heart racing. " _I'll...I'll still win this," _he thought._ " But not today."_

A second later, they were gone.

No one spoke. There was only the sound of grieving, and Angewomon landing beside her partner, glowing dimly and collapsing, transforming, back into Gatomon. The other digimon, those that had once been Ken's slaves went with Mimi's army, both to chase after Ken, and to give privacy to the Digidestined.

The two older brothers were the first to reach Kari. Matt threw himself to the ground beside his little brother, crying. Tai stood at Kari's side for a moment, before sliding down to his knees and wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"Oh, Kari," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I let you down."

Kari lifted one hand from under T.K to wipe at her face. "It happened Again…I wanted to stop It. I ..I tried, I tried to stop it. Why couldn't I stop It? It wasn't supposed to happen, not ever again. I Promised. And…why couldn't I stop It, Tai?" she sounded small, younger than her eleven years. She sounded small and lost and confused. She sounded how everyone present felt.

"I dunno, Kari." It was Matt who answered, not able to look away from his brother's face- calm, eyes closed as if in sleep, still supported by a shaking Kari. "I don't know."

The others reached them, kneeling in the soft dirt, crying freely now. The digimon de-Digivolved, encircling the body of their friend. Death was not something that most digimon knew. It was something that they never experienced- deletion happened, of course, but Digimon always came back, unless their data was corrupted. The older digimon, Gabumon and Agumon, Patamon and Gatomon, knew better than that, and the younger three knew instinctively- humans did not come back from death. They were not reborn, as digimon were. And so they wept.

"_I'm sorry, Teeks. I never should have let you do this, I should have snuck around instead. I'm.. I _was_ supposed to look out for you. Protect you." _Matt shook his head, unable to think. _"If only…if only…"_

Gatomon, tiny and dusty, curled into the space between Kari and Tai, one paw outstretched to reach Patamon. The little orange and white digimon was still pressed against T.K.'s arm in a final cuddle, his face buried in the soft yellow and teal of his partner's favorite shirt. He looked at the cat digimon sadly, fluttering one wing tip to brush her paw.

No one spoke for what seemed like an eternity, but hearts still pounded in everyone's ears, and these tears were not silent, but loud and filled with sorrow.

At last, Kari broke the not-quiet.

"Why?" she begged again, but this time she was not addressing her big brother, or the heavens.

"Why did you do that? I… Why, T.K.? It would have been better if…It was supposed to be _me_. I was the _only one_ who was supposed to get hurt. I _couldn't _let It happen again, I…I couldn't. I, I _Promised_." She stopped, shaking, letting her tears fall onto her best friend's hand.

"It wasn't supposed to be one of my friends. I _couldn't_ let it. No one was supposed to get hurt but me. Only me. Not you, T.K. not…Why did you …? Why?" The words were hard in coming, interrupted by gasping sobs and shaky breaths as Kari tried to speak. She couldn't keep the heartbreak out of her voice, nor did she try.

"T.K, I…I…" she could not finish.

She did not have to.

Because, suddenly, someone groaned softly- hardly more than a whisper, hardly more than a breath. And then…

"Be…cause. I…Promised…pro…tect…you." T.K wheezed, his eyes still closed, his chest moving so shallowly that it looked still. But it was moving.

"T.K.!" everyone cried out in sheer joy, unable to comprehend how this miracle had occurred, and not caring. T.K. was _alive. _That was all that mattered. Smiles of happy amazement stretched across every face (save that of Hawkmon, whose beak simply dropped in wonder.)

"But you were dead!" Patamon cried, not bothering to wipe the tears of joy pooling in his eyes. His partner was alive. He hadn't failed him. He hadn't lost him.

"You…all…ok?" T.K asked, clearly in pain. He blinked, once, wincing at the sudden light.

"We're fine, now," Matt gasped, answering for the group. "But you…are you?"

"M'head…chest…hurt. But m'ok." T.K moaned again, obviously not ok.

"What do we do?" Kari asked her wide grin starting to disappear. T.K need help, and quickly.

Still weak with wonder, Davis spoke up. "We need Joe, or Jim."

Tai nodded. "Good thinking, Davis. You and Veemon, run ahead and tell them what happened. Bring Joe and something we can use as a stretcher." Davis took off running. T.K might have been alive, but he wasn't ok, not by a long short.

"Everything's going to be fine, little brother," Matt said firmly, sagging with relief. It had to be. "_Please, God, please let it be ok. Don't take him away now_."

Cody could hardly breathe._ "It's alright."_ He thought_ "Everything's going to be alright. No one's dead, or lost, and everything's going to wok out."_

Yolei couldn't stop smiling, one gloved hand pressed over her mouth. The impossible had happened. The impossible had never felt so wonderful.

Kari was crying, this time with the overflowing sense of pure joy, her heart flooded with warmth. Nothing could compare with this feeling, nothing she'd ever experienced. She felt full of Light.

T.K. blinked again, his warm blue eyes hazy with pain, but he smiled. His eyes closed again, but the faint, shallow breathing continued.

Joe and Davis, with a full stretcher, arrived moments later.

"Davis...only said…" Joe panted, unused to the run. "That you needed…me." he slowed to a stop, seeing T.K.'s mostly still form. "What happened?" he gasped, the color draining from his face.

"He's unconscious," Matt said, still not looking away from his brother, as if afraid that if he dared, T.K. might vanish.

Joe knelt by the blond's side, next to Matt.

"Jim's better at this than me," he muttered. "But moving him could do more harm than good." He bit his lip. "What happened? Has he said anything?"

Kari spoke up. "He… he got hit by one of Airdramon's energy blasts. He said his head hurt, and his chest."

Joe nodded, then took a deep breath, blowing it out in a sigh. " We need to get him back to Earth. Help me with this stretcher."

As Joe, Matt, and Tai eased the unconscious boy onto the metal and cloth stretcher, Kari got slowly to her feet, scooping up Gatomon in the process.

"Kari, He's ok. Everything is." It was Gatomon, her clear eyes shining. "Everyone's alright, It didn't happen Again." The little cat smiled up at her partner, and Kari smiled back.

"Yes," she said simply, walking, still a bit unsteadily, towards the television-gateway home.

Something small and white caught her eye, and she bent to pick it up.

It wasn't white, but a cream color, a scrap of fabric. No, not a scrap…It was a hat. Whole, not torn or stained, it was an off-white cloth hat. T.K's hat.

The portal blazed with light, as Kari held up her Digivice, and she and her friends, carrying T.K, went home. All of them, together at last.

* * *

**Say it with me now: AWWWW! How sad was that first bit? How cute and heartwarming was the end? Very? I hope so. Now, don't think this is the end! It's not! One more chapter remains. After all, T.K's not out of the woods yet. Also, someone's going to half to explain why Kari's back and where she's been, as well as why her friends vanished for most of the day. Did you like it? Love it? Cry over it? Smile so much your face might slipt over it?( I know I did all of the above.)Let me know, with a click of that handy-dandy review button. : ) please? *gives you a digital cookie and Patamon eyes.* thank you : )**

**~Hedgi Naysomay Aisling.**

**PS- Check out my other story( series of oneshots, really) called " Faces of the Siege" If you've got the time. Again, please and thank you, and have a wonderful day/night/afternoon/week/month/year/life.**


	15. And the Sun Shall Rise Home

**Author's note: This is it. The last chapter. A year ago, I started this, with just an image in my head- Kari, her crest glowing, one of her friends having just taken a blast meant for her- and almost a year ago, I posted the first chapter. It's been a long year- I've had ups and downs, glories and sorrows and a lot of stress. Writing this and reading your reviews have gotten me through a lot. _You guys_ have gotten me through a lot. My deepest thanks to the 18 who put this on their alerts, the 19 that put this on their favorites, and, of course, to my reviewers:** _Genun, Merryb, Liliana, KHLostEmpress, Assana73, Taeniaea, Digimonfan18, KHLostEmpress, M. Terlwyth, Natnatx, Kent, ARCtheElite, Squeakygirl, Rogue-Scholar07,Alexical, lesli, Wild Crowconaw, Selene's Daughter, Sari Meritt, Kagebana, Digidestind Angel, Kaito Lune, and finally, Crestoflight3._ **This one's for you, readers, all of you, for all your loyal, prompt reviews that made me so glad to be a writer. I could not have done this without you and your encouragement. Honestly! I always say to myself, ' oh, that's terrible, did I write that? It stinks!' but thanks to you, I feel really proud of my work. Thank you.**

**Thanks to Genun, MerryB, and Liliana for reviewing every single chapter, without fail.**

**Thank you to those of you that I know personally and in real life, for not taking advantage of knowing where I live to demand spoilers or kill me over those terrible, awful, wonderful cliffhangers, while still allowing me to talk my head off about how evil I was going to be. I owe you!**

**Thanks to Aragorn, for putting my name on TVtropes under Fanfic recs for Digimon. One of my greatest dreams, :)**

**And thank you everyone for over 100 reviews! I could not be happier- It was a dream come true, something I wasn't expecting to reach. What's more, not a single one of those reviews was a flame. That warms my heart. Thank you all so much.**

**This was a hard chapter to write- perhaps the hardest- because this is the end.*sniff* I hate endings, I'm simply awful at ending stories. And I always cry, even though I know that no story can go forever.I hope it is a good ending, and I hope that you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: *****smiles*** **for old time's sake: I don't own digimon. But you knew that, clever reader, didn't you? Onward, then, to the finale. What you've all been waiting for...**

* * *

Chapter.14/Epilogue: And the Sun Shall Rise/Home

The computer glowed brightly as Izzy and Jim leapt backwards, having just laid down the stack of cushions. Jim was still wary of the idea that there was a portal to another world- in the middle school, no less. But the glitter of white energy quickly put an end to his disbelief. Izzy had been explaining, with Joe's help, exactly what had happened in the past day and a half, when Davis, dusty, bleeding and tear stained, had coming racing into the halls, shouting for Joe.

Jim hadn't made out much of the younger boy's hurried speech, but Joe had, and the two had gone, vanishing back into the computer. After Davis and Joe had gone, borrowing a conveniently placed stretcher from a closet on the back wall, the redhead had stopped his explanation, and raced to arrange the pillows that Davis had displaced in his hurry to return to the Digiworld.

Izzy's mind raced along with his hands. Someone was hurt- badly, by the look of Davis. That would mean they'd need to call an ambulance- even having Jim around wouldn't be enough, not if whoever it was was in bad enough shape to need a stretcher. And since Kari was still being searched for, officially missing, the police would probably need to find out that she'd been found- if the others had rescued her, that was. It was possible that everything had gone wrong….But when the inevitable questions came, it would hardly do to say, 'Well, officer/detective/doctor/ sir/ma'am, our friend was hurt trying to save Kari Kamiya, the missing girl( unless it was Kari who was hurt) from Ken Ichijouji, who kidnapped her and took her to the Digital world through a computer portal, so that he could finally defeat us and take over the Digital world.' No, that would not work. Telling their parents the truth would be hard enough.

Jim was digging through his black bag, trying to find something. "Hey, don't panic about an excuse, we'll come up with something." He spoke quickly, but calmly( Izzy marveled at just how calm he sounded. After all, it wasn't like some bleeding, freaking out kid came out of a computer, grabbed your brother and went _back_ into the computer every day.)

"I've got a few friends on the EMT squad, first responders on duty right now. They won't ask questions- at least not right away, if I ask them not to, you know? That should buy you and your friends some time."

His fingers fiddled with a cell phone, ready to call, just in case.

Light flashed before Izzy could respond, and someone emerged from the computer. Kari stumbled on the cushions, falling to one knee, and half crawling to one side.

Despite being dusty with tear stains and dark smudges under her eyes, Kari was smiling. One arm was wrapped around Gatomon, whose blue eyes shone with clarity.

"Kari!" Izzy cried, helping her to her feet. "Are you alright? What happened? Who's hurt?"

She nodded, dazed, standing unsteadily. "I'm ok," she sat in one of the chairs. "Ken tried to…kill me. T.K's hurt, bad." She paused. "But he's alive…" she held Gatomon close, as the computer lit up again.

Davis, Joe, Matt, and Tai emerged from this burst of light, bearing the stretcher that T.K. lay upon, trying not to jolt it around. As they carefully moved to the side, they lowered the contraption to the ground.

Again, the computer screen lit up, as Cody, Yolie, and the Digimon landed, quite a bit less delicately than the others, on the now trampled and dirty pillows.

Jim covered his mouth in surprise, and then hurried to T.K's side. "What _exactly _happened in there?" he asked as he felt for a pulse.

"Some kind of energy blast. It… It hit him and knocked him back into a control Spire." Patamon spoke quietly. To his credit, Jim didn't freak out- much- at the talking orange batpig.

"Ah." Jim nodded, still confused, before turning back to the others. "He's unconscious. My guess is a concussion, probably mild, and some damage to the ribs. There's not much I can do here, he needs to get to a hospital, the sooner the better. I'm calling my buddies; you'll have some time, but not a ton. You'd better come up with a story. It doesn't need to be plausible- you're kids, after all, and I can vouch for the fact that you're all in shock." He smiled slightly at that. Then he opened the phone, walking over to the window.

The Digidestined huddled, around T.K. Kari spoke up. "Tai, how are we going to explain this? We can't tell Mom the truth."

"No, we can't" her big brother agreed. "Jim's right, though. If Matt, Iz, Joe and I say we showed up after whatever you say happened, happened, that gets us off the hook for a story, and you can play the trauma card."

Izzy joined in. "I've given the matter some thought…Kari, what if you were in the school the whole time? You thought you saw Ken late Saturday afternoon at the school, walking in. When you saw the news cast, you thought there might be a clue, and somehow you got trapped in this classroom- the door sticks, and for some reason, the fuse blew, offline-ing the computers, so there was no way for you to signal for help."

Kari nodded. "It's not exactly a lie, either. But I'm a mess. And how do we explain everything else?"

"OOOH!" Davis straightened his shoulders, an idea burning. "We came looking for you, only we went through the park- the wooded area. I fell, and hit my head, only we were going to meet Joe at the school, and we figured he could patch me up. On the way.. uh…

Demi-Veemon, help me out here!"

"You were attacked by a sandstorm?" the little 'mon suggested.

"Fell in a sandbox?" Armadillomon shrugged.

"Dustbath?" Poromon squeaked.

Izzy( who had mysteriously vanished and returned, just after the computers turned off) spoke up, shaking his head. "You could always go wash up in the bathrooms. Your clothes are fine. And I hear sirens."

Although they didn't want to leave, Yolie and the boys got up and ran to the bathrooms down the hall. Kari stayed put._ "I'll say I fell in the woods," _she decided.

Glancing out the window, Tai saw an ambulance, lights flashing, pull up to the school gates.

Joe looked at Izzy. "Actually, you and I should go- the digimon probably shouldn't be here, and I've got to pick up Sora and Mimi at the airport soon." Izzy agreed quickly. His parents would want to hear about what had happened, and there would be little space for the kids in whatever ambulance and cars came. Patamon and Gatomon refused to leave, but the others agreed to go with Joe and Izzy to one of the few places they were both welcome and treated like sentient beings- Izzy's place.

* * *

True to Jim's promise, the EMTs didn't ask many questions- just who they were, and if anyone else was hurt. In the end, Kari and Matt rode in the ambulance with T.K and Cody( whose swollen arm was starting to throb painfully). Jim followed with Tai, Davis and Yolie crammed into his car.

The trip to the hospital was a short one, and very quiet. It was only after T.K had been wheeled in for x-rays that the doctor began to ask questions.

"What happened?" one of them- a tall man, a few years older than Jim, with dark hair and serious eyes. "You need to tell us. You won't get in trouble, ok?"

Kari shook her head, "I don't know." she related her rehearsed story, stroking Gatomon's fur

"…When they found me, T.K was already hurt- I dunno what happened, exactly… Joe got the stretcher, and then they called for help." It was near enough the truth after all.

The other doctor's eyes widened. "You're the missing girl!" he said, reaching for his radio. "Kari Kamiya!"

Kari nodded. "Uh-huh. I...I should probably call Momma and Dad."

As she spoke, Jim, dressed now in his white coat, entered, with Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya( and Tai) at his heels.

"Kari! We were so worried!" her father cried

"Oh, Sweetheart, don't ever frighten us like that again!" Mrs. Kamiya reached her daughter first, and hugged her tightly. Kari hugged her back, never wanting to let go.

"Oh, Mommy! Daddy! Tai!" she felt tears pricking at her eyes as her father and brother joined in the embrace.

Kari still clutched Gatomon, who (for once in her lives) was not throwing a fit about pretending to be a toy. Patamon sat on Matt's shoulder, on a bench outside of the X-ray room doors.

Kari again told the fictitious and digimon free version of what had happened to her, not only to her parents but to two detectives, the ones who had been investigating her disappearance. When she finished, they nodded.

"The other two-Ichijouji and Sato, have also been found. Sato turned up this morning, with his older brother- they'd gone camping. Ichijouji was found maybe half an hour ago, the theory is that he ran away, although we aren't certain." The woman, Detective Hayato, said, smiling a little. "We'll be going now," she indicated her partner. "Reports don't write themselves." She waved, and the pair of detectives were gone.

She'd returned the photo, and Kari's mother kept looking at it, and back at Kari, smiling so widely she thought her face might crack.

At long last, Jim returned, touching Kari gently on the shoulder. "Your friend is awake," he said, simply. "You and your brother can go in- Matt's already there." To the elder Kamiyas, he said simply, "We can't allow too many visitors at once, I'm afraid, but you can wait in the halls- it will be quieter there."

The group nodded, and followed the doctor through a set of swinging doors, and another, down one white-washed, sterile corridor, around a corner, and to a closed door.

Kari opened it, fingers shaking. Tai hurried her from behind, and she stumbled in.

Matt was sitting in a low metal chair, next to a bed where T.K. lay, propped up on pillows. His golden hair pocked through gaps in the white gauze wrapped around his head.

Kari was at a loss for words- after all, what do you say to someone who has saved your life, at the possible cost of his own? What do you say to someone who nearly died for you? Thank you? A Thank You seems to plain, to shallow.

"Hey," T.K croaked, smiling at her.

Kari sat in a second chair.

"Hi. Are.. Are you feeling better?"

Wincing slightly, T.K nodded. "I guess. Jim said I've got a 'slight contusion', whatever that is, and bruised ribs. He said I'm lucky they aren't broken. But they gave me something for the pain, and my head doesn't hurt at all." He smiled again, his beautiful, wonderful smile.

Matt stood. " Teeks, I'll be right back, I'm just going to call dad- Mom will be here soon, Ok?"

T.K. nodded.

Patamon leapt from Matt's head to the bed, curling up on one pillow, just above his human's shoulder. Tai followed Matt into the hallways, leaving the two younger digidestined to speak in private.

"TeeKayy," Patamon sighed "you really had me worried. Can we not ever go through that again?"

T.K's face grew solemn. Kari felt a chill go down her spine.

"T.K… Thank you. For saving me. For...For doing what you did. But… I thought you were dead, and I couldn't take it. It was like Wizardmon, all over again, and It...It was all my fault, and…" Words were spilling out of her now, like a river loosed from a dam.

"Kari," T.K stopped her. "You're my best friend. I couldn't just let you…die. I'd do it again, in a heart beat. You were willing to, to save us."

"He's right, Kari," Gatomon whispered, her voice low.

"But I Promised that It would never happen Aga-" She started.

"And I Promised that I'd always protect you. Kari… We're both alive. We're both ok. What happened before didn't happen again. And it won't." he smiled at her.

Kari smiled too. _T.K's right... everything turned out ok._

Suddenly, she remembered something. "I almost forgot!" she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a rather wrinkled bundle of cream cloth. "I found your hat." She held it out to him, and he took it, gingerly, and with Patamon's help, settled it on his head. It fell forwards, and Kari giggled, and then she began to laugh.

"_She's laughing. She's happy."_ Despite the ache in his chest and throb in his head, T.K felt lighter than air. They had saved Gatomon, and Kari, and she was happy.

* * *

T.K's parents arrived then, not seeming to mind that the other was their- they hadn't fought in years, really. They demanded an explanation, and got one- the full story this time.

The other Digidestined were allowed in as well- Cody sported a light purple- blue sling for his arm, and Davis had a bandage covering the gash, which had looked worse than it was, on one cheek.

Joe showed up, with Mimi and Sora, and T.K told the whole story again- by now, the others were chipping in, and Kari related a little of what had happened on her side of the battle field. She did not speak about the night-terrors, or about the light that had sung in her mind. There would be time, she figured, for that later.

At last, Jim had to kick most of them out.

"He needs to rest. You all do, but if even half of what Matt and tai have told me is true, he needs it most." He explained that T.K would need to stick around for the next day or so, but after that, he'd be free to go home- "although I'd stay clear of monsters for a few weeks, if I were you. You were lucky."

T.K nodded. "I am lucky." He said simply.

Sora and Mimi, jet-lagged and falling over their own feet, were the first to leave, and Izzy followed- the digimon, still waiting in his room, would want to know how everyone was, he explained. Joe joined him, and Davis, Cody and Yolie chased after him, eagar to reunite with their partners.

At last, Kari and Tai tuned to leave. Kari felt worn to the bone, and drained, so tired she was. Had it really been just two, three days ago that all this had started? It seemed like weeks had passed.

"See you tomorrow?" T.K. asked, already falling asleep.

"See you tomorrow." Kari nodded, and though it was a world away, buried under dust and sand, where no one could see, a faint pink light shown like the very stars.

"See you tomorrow," she repeated, smiling at her dearest, closest, best friend as he smiled back." I Promise."

* * *

***Starts to cry* And that's it. A year of writing. Over 40,000 words. Who knows how many pages. Over a hundred reviews- I still can't quiet believe it…. Just like I can't believe that it's finished. I'm going to miss it- I'm going to miss you, all of you, writing to you and for you. So much has changed since I started, but I look back, and I'm proud of what I wrote. That's kind of a first for me. thank you, thank you all, for taking this crazy adventure with me. And thank you to anyone who's new, just started reading now, or even later- thank you for reading. *still crying* sorry for being so emotional, it's just… it's late and this is kinda my baby, and now it's all grown up, and…I still can't believe it's done.( No matter how many times I say it!)**

**Anyway. Thank you all again. * wipes eyes* It was wonderful, to have such amazing readers. I'd like to urge anyone reading this to review- just a little note, please. Did it live up to your expectations? Pass them? I hope so. I never dreamed that it would become such a huge story… but dreams are funny things- the ones that come true seem to be the ones we never knew we had.**

**So I'll stop my blubbering and yammering. I leave you with one final thought: HAPPY ENDINGS FOR THE WIN!**

**( and you were expecting something deep and poignant, weren't you? Silly goose!)**

**All my love and gratitude,**

**Hedgi Naysomay Aisling**


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